The first weeks on Zanzibar: permit, numbers, bank and a home
In your first weeks on Zanzibar you complete your residence permit with fingerprints and a photo, register your SIM card, register with NIDA and apply for a TIN. Then come the bank, your insurance, the temporary driving permit and your home. The order matters, because each office asks for what the previous one gave you.
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Written and checked by Auke on , against the sources at the bottom. Is something no longer right? Report it below and I'll fix it.
The first weeks on Zanzibar are about four things: completing your residence, sorting out your numbers, getting your money and insurance in order, and finding a home. You complete your residence permit with fingerprints and a photo at the immigration service; according to the immigration service the card follows within a week. Then come your SIM card, your NIDA registration, your TIN and the bank. The order matters: NIDA asks for your permit, and the bank for your numbers.
What do you arrange when?
| What | When | Where | According to the source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Completing the residence permit | right after arrival | Immigration Head Office Zanzibar or ZIPA | pay within 60 days, then fingerprints and photo; issue within a week |
| SIM card | the first days | provider | registration with your fingerprint |
| NIDA registration | once your permit is in, from age 18 | NIDA office in your district | USD 100 (investor), USD 50 (employee), USD 20 (family member) |
| TIN | in the first weeks | online at the TRA | with your passport |
| Bank account | with passport, later with TIN and NIDA | bank, for example PBZ | requirements differ per bank |
| Temporary driving permit | before you start driving | also through a car hire company | TZS 50,000 |
| Tenancy agreement | as soon as possible | landlord | 0.5 % stamp duty, paid by the tenant |
How do you complete your residence?
You apply for the residence permit online. You choose a processing center, the office that handles your application. For Zanzibar that is the Immigration Head Office Zanzibar or ZIPA, the Zanzibar investment authority. After approval you pay within 60 days. Then you have your fingerprints and photo taken, and according to the immigration service the permit is issued within a week.
For most classes the permit must already be approved before you enter the country. Retired people may apply for it in the country. When completing it, also ask about the re-entry pass (USD 50 per person), the pass that goes with your permit when you leave and re-enter the country.
Which numbers do you arrange?
First your SIM card. Since the regulations of 2020 every SIM card is registered with your fingerprint; there is a separate category for foreigners.
Then NIDA, the National Identification Authority. NIDA calls on foreigners aged 18 and over with a residence permit to register at the office in their district. You bring your passport, your work permit, your residence permit in duplicate and a proof of payment from the bank. First you fill in form 2A and have it stamped by the local government, which also gives you a letter about your home address. If you have no work permit, for example as a retiree, ask NIDA what to bring instead.
Your TIN, the tax number, you apply for online at the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA), with your passport as ID. Banks may ask for it, and you also need it when a car is transferred to your name.
How do you arrange money and healthcare?
You open an account with your passport; with your TIN and your NIDA card it gets easier. Keep your Dutch account, because your AOW and your pension are paid into it.
Tanzania is not one of the countries where you stay insured in the Dutch system through the CAK. Your Dutch basic insurance stops as soon as you deregister, and you take out international health insurance yourself, preferably with medical evacuation. NederlandWereldwijd writes that healthcare is reasonable in the big cities and limited outside them. Anyone entering as a visitor also pays for compulsory travel insurance from the Zanzibar Insurance Corporation. Whether that also applies once you have a residence permit, we have not found.
How do you connect your home?
On Zanzibar electricity comes from ZECO, the state company, and water from ZAWA, according to the regulator ZURA the sole supplier of clean water. ZURA sets the tariffs: an ordinary household pays a fixed charge of TZS 2,100 per month and TZS 280 per kWh up to 1,500 kWh. How you put a connection in your name, we could not check; the websites of ZECO and ZAWA were unreachable. Ask your landlord.
On a tenancy agreement you pay 0.5 % stamp duty, a tax on documents collected by the Zanzibar Revenue Authority. You pay it as the tenant.
Zanzibar is 95 % Muslim. NederlandWereldwijd warns that the government can impose high fines if you do not cover your shoulders and knees. Sexual acts between people of the same sex are punishable, also for foreigners. Read the travel advice for Tanzania (yellow on 9 October 2026) before you settle.
Who do you call if things go wrong?
The Dutch embassy is in Dar es Salaam, on the mainland, in Umoja House on Garden Avenue. Applying for a passport and having documents legalised is done there by appointment. You can also reach the embassy through the NederlandWereldwijd contact centre, +31 247 247 247, or via WhatsApp on +31 857 737 400.
In Vertrekklaar this is phase 5 of 5 of the journey: the same steps, but for your situation — in your order, tickable, and with the deadlines watched. See the whole journey to Zanzibar or look inside the open plan first.
What this rests on
The facts in this article come from these official pages. Rules change. When in doubt, go by the source, not this article.
- Tanzania Immigration — Residence Permit Guidelines, the online application, paying within 60 days and issue within a week — immigration.go.tz
- NIDA — registration of foreigners with a residence permit, what to bring and the fees — nida.go.tz
- TRA — applying for a TIN through the taxpayer portal, for residents and non-residents — tra.go.tz
- TanzLII — SIM Card Registration Regulations 2020 (GN 112), biometric registration for foreigners — tanzlii.org
- ZURA — electricity on Zanzibar, ZECO and the tariffs — zura.go.tz
- ZURA — water on Zanzibar, ZAWA as the sole supplier — zura.go.tz
- Zanzibar Revenue Authority — stamp duty, 0.5 % on a tenancy agreement, paid by the tenant — zanrevenue.org
- NederlandWereldwijd — travel advice Tanzania, colour code, clothing and healthcare (changed 9 October 2026) — nederlandwereldwijd.nl
- NederlandWereldwijd — the Dutch embassy in Dar es Salaam — nederlandwereldwijd.nl
Read on
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Anyone renting a house in Zanzibar pays stamp duty as the tenant to the Zanzibari tax office: 0.5 % on the tenancy agreement. Rent disputes go to the Rent Restriction Board. We found no rules on deposits or notice at an official source: you put those in writing yourself. If you let to tourists yourself, you pay 15 % hotel levy.
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Registration and numbers on Zanzibar: permit, NIDA card, TIN and SIM card
Anyone living on Zanzibar arranges four things: a residence permit from the immigration service, a NIDA card (the Tanzanian identity card, USD 20 to 100 for foreigners), a TIN from the TRA tax authority and a SIM card registered with your fingerprint. The ZanID is for Zanzibaris.
Updated 18 October 2026