Which Businesses Foreigners Cannot Own in Tanzania: The Restricted List
Which Businesses Foreigners Cannot Own in Tanzania: The Restricted List? Fifteen business categories are reported closed to non-citizens under GN No. 487A of 2025 (commenced 28 July 2025). A majority foreign-owned or controlled local company is reported not to cure a reservation. This page publishes no penalty figure and no enabling section number — the gazetted Order has not been obtained for this desk and reported penalties conflict. Confirm the live instrument before you form or licence anything. The mandate-holder is the licensing authority for the activity, read with GN No. 487A of 2025 as reported. The instrument to open is the live licence class plus the reserved-activity Order — no penalty figure published here. The usual stall is forming a company first and discovering the activity is closed to non-citizen control. This page is not a fee table or a settled EAC ruling this desk has not seen. Domestic prices, where any appear, are in Tanzanian shillings. Unopened fees stay n/d. Confirm the live portal on the day you file.
Which Businesses Foreigners Cannot Own in Tanzania: The Restricted List?
Law and practice as at 3 September 2026. Fees and forms are current only to the date you confirm them on the mandate-holder portal. Data series, where any appear, are dated in the table below. Figures marked as Zatra analysis are derived by Zatra Consultants Limited from the sources cited and are not official statistics.
Who this is for — and the jurisdiction
Founders, foreign investors and operators with this question open on the desk — not readers collecting PDFs. This page is Mainland-first. Zanzibar has its own registrar (BPRA), revenue authority, investment authority (ZIPA), labour and land systems. Income tax, customs and excise are Union matters and generally carry across; VAT, licensing and company registration do not. A Mainland filing is not a Zanzibar approval.
Is this activity open to non-citizens?
Fifteen business categories are reported closed to non-citizens under GN No. 487A of 2025 (commenced 28 July 2025). A majority foreign-owned or controlled local company is reported not to cure a reservation. This page publishes no penalty figure and no enabling section number — the gazetted Order has not been obtained for this desk and reported penalties conflict. Confirm the live instrument before you form or licence anything.
The pain point
Operators lose weeks because of forming a company first and discovering the activity is closed to non-citizen control. The repair is to reopen the live licence class plus the reserved-activity Order — no penalty figure published here and rebuild the pack around the facts in this title, including CDD where a bank, registry or adviser will onboard the people.
The framework
The gain on "Which Businesses Foreigners Cannot Own in Tanzania: The Restricted List" is a file that the licensing authority for the activity, read with GN No. 487A of 2025 as reported can recognise, not a slogan that survived a WhatsApp group. Fifteen business categories are reported closed to non-citizens under GN No. 487A of 2025 (commenced 28 July 2025). A majority foreign-owned or controlled local company is reported not to cure a reservation. This page publishes no penalty figure and no enabling section number — the gazetted Order has not been obtained for this desk and reported penalties conflict. Confirm the live instrument before you form or licence anything.
This page decides the informational question in the title. It is not a fee table or a settled EAC ruling this desk has not seen.
Who actually holds the mandate
| Institution | What it controls | What it does not replace |
|---|---|---|
| the licensing authority for the activity, read with GN No. 487A of 2025 as repor | The decision on this title | a fee table or a settled EAC ruling this desk has not seen |
| BRELA or BPRA as applicable | The legal person | The sector approval |
| TRA / ZRA as applicable | The tax identity that banks will copy | The sector licence |
How to read the restricted list without a gazetted copy on the desk
| Activity class (as reported) | Status for this desk | Typical failed plan |
|---|---|---|
| Wholesale and retail trade | Reported reserved | Shop/supermarket plans for foreign control |
| Clearing and forwarding | Reported reserved | Own-company clearing of imports |
| On-farm crop buying / aggregation | Reported reserved | Buying licences for foreign-controlled firms |
| Salon, barber and related personal services | Reported reserved | Beauty/salon roll-ups |
| Tourism classes also reserved under Tourism Act overlays | Confirm Act + Order | Tour operator / travel agency models |
| Other categories named in GN 487A as reported | Confirm live Order | Do not invent the fifteenth from memory |
This table is orientation from corroborated reporting, not a substitute for the gazetted Order. Obtain GN No. 487A of 2025 before you treat any row as exhaustive. No penalty figure.
The numbers — structure, not a headline rate
Every domestic price on this page is in Tanzanian shillings. Where an authority itself publishes a threshold in USD, that is labelled as an authority figure, not a Zatra price. A cell that says n/d means the figure is not published here because it moves, or because this desk has not opened the live schedule. Do not budget from a remembered number.
| Item | Unit | Period | Institution | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Official filing / licence fee | TZS | Confirm live | Mandate-holder portal | n/d — confirm on the day you file |
| Zatra professional fee | TZS | 3 September 2026 | Zatra pricing page | Quoted separately; never mixed into a government line |
| Bank / notary / courier third-party | TZS | As incurred | The receiving bank or officer | Third-party; not a Zatra markup |
The sequence
Read the order as logic, not as a promised calendar. Customer due diligence at the bank, at the registry and at any adviser is part of elapsed time: identity documents, proof of address, source of funds, beneficial ownership, and for a corporate shareholder its own ownership chain. That is not the same file as BRELA beneficial-ownership disclosure.
- Write the activity in plain language — Not the object clause — the thing customers pay for.
- Map ownership and control — Citizenship of natural persons who own or control, and any corporate chain.
- Screen against the live Order — Open the gazetted GN 487A text when you have it; until then treat secondary lists as provisional.
- Only then open BRELA / the licence portal — Forming a company does not open a reserved activity.
- If closed, stop or restructure lawfully — Citizen-controlled structures that are real — not nominees the BO form will expose.
Documents the file usually needs
Packs differ by class and by the live form. This list is orientation. Exact fields follow the portal on the day you file.
- Company extract and TIN matching the people who will sign
- The live form or procedure card from the mandate-holder
- Identity and, where money moves, source-of-funds evidence
- Any sector evidence the live list names — not a guessed annex
A worked scenario
A Dubai trading group incorporates a 100% foreign-owned Dar company to 'run wholesale electronics'. Wholesale trade is reported reserved under GN 487A. The company certificate arrives; the business licence and bank onboarding do not. The repair is an eligibility screen before ORS, not after.
Figures marked as Zatra analysis are derived by Zatra Consultants Limited from the sources cited and are not official statistics. Timeline days below are planning ranges, not statutory periods, unless a source in the table says otherwise.
Where it goes wrong
- Acting as if a fee table or a settled EAC ruling this desk has not seen finishes the file
- Repeating forming a company first and discovering the activity is closed to non-citizen control
- Mixing Mainland and Zanzibar packs
- Inventing a fee, deadline, penalty or section number from a law-firm alert
- Skipping CDD on the people who will sign
What this page deliberately does not cover
- a fee table or a settled EAC ruling this desk has not seen
- A fee table
- Penalty figures for GN 198/2025 or GN 487A/2025
- Legal advice or right of audience
What to do next
Write the four facts on one page: the activity in plain language, who owns it, Mainland or Zanzibar, and the first operating step. Open the mandate-holder portal on that list. When the facts are unstable, stop and get the file structured — that is the point of a scoped desk conversation, not a general 'contact us'.
Cluster instrument: The Restricted Activity Checker. Pick the activity and ownership structure; get an eligibility position. Logged incomplete until the interactive instrument ships. The answer above is not gated. If the instrument is not yet live, this cluster is logged as incomplete; the article still stands.
Frequently asked questions
Does this page replace the licensing authority for the activity, read with GN No. 487A of 2025 as reported?
No. The mandate-holder decides. This Insights page is orientation.
Are fees listed here?
No. Official fees are confirmed on the mandate-holder portal on the day you file, in TZS for a domestic charge. Zatra's professional fee is on /pricing/ and stays on its own line.
Does a BRELA company finish this file?
No. Incorporation is identity. This file is a different mandate — and for reserved activities, local incorporation is reported not to cure non-citizen control.
Is Mainland the same as Zanzibar?
No, except where a Union matter actually applies. Confirm the jurisdiction of the premises and the legal person.
Can a foreign-owned company do this?
Only if the activity is open to non-citizens. GN No. 487A of 2025 is reported to close fifteen categories. No penalty figure is published here.
What is the first practical step?
Fifteen business categories are reported closed to non-citizens under GN No. 487A of 2025 (commenced 28 July 2025). A majority foreign-owned or controlled local company is reported not to cure a reservation. This page publishes no penalty figure and no enabling section number — the gazetted Order has not been obtained for this desk and reported penalties conflict. Confirm the live instrument before you form or licence anything.
Is this legal advice?
No. Zatra prepares, structures and coordinates. Where an advocate, notary or licensed auditor must act, the sequence says so.
Where do I confirm today?
Open the sources listed on the page. Law-firm alerts are discovery only. As of 3 September 2026: Fifteen business categories are reported closed to non-citizens under GN No. 487A of 2025 (commenced 28 July 2025). A majority foreign-owned or controlled local company is reported not to cure a reservation. This page publishes no penalty figure and no enabling section number — the gazetted Order has not been obtained for this desk and reported penalties conflict. Confirm the live instrument before you form or licence anything.
Sources & regulators
Verify before filing: Fees, forms and timelines change. Confirm the current schedule on the linked regulator portal before you budget or submit. Law-firm alerts and Big Four notes are discovery only.
- TanzLII — [en] Published legislation. Confirm the revised edition and commencement before citing a section number. Accessed 2026-09-03.
- Business Registrations and Licensing Agency (BRELA) — [en] Mainland companies, names, beneficial ownership and related filings. Confirm live ORS forms. Accessed 2026-09-03.
- Tanzania Trade Portal — [en] Official procedure cards for many import, export and licensing routes. Accessed 2026-09-03.
Disclaimer
This article is informational orientation. It is not legal, tax or investment advice and not a government decision. Tanzanian instruments move by Act, Government Notice and portal revision. If a sentence here disagrees with the live mandate-holder, the mandate-holder wins. This page publishes no penalty figure for GN No. 198 of 2025 or GN No. 487A of 2025. Zatra Consultants Limited does not issue licences, permits, tax clearances or approvals.