Federal Ministry of Interior (FMI) to Impose Penalties for Late Submission of Monthly Expatriate Quota Utilisation Returns
The Federal Ministry of Interior (FMI) has announced that it will impose penalties for late submission of Monthly Expatriate Quota (MEQ) utilization returns, which is expected to take effect from 11 January 2024. The Notice, which was recently published on the Ministry's website, is a follow up to an earlier announcement made by the Ministry in January 2022. For further details, please read our earlier publication on Additional Guidelines on Administration of Expatriate Quota and other Business Instruments.
In January 2022, the FMI had announced, as part of additional guidelines on administration of Expatriate Quota and other business instruments, that organizations with EQ facilities should submit their MEQ returns on the FMI's designated online portal. This is in line with the Ministry's efforts to continue to digitalize its processes for efficiency. However, it continued to accept physical submission of the returns.
MEQ utilization returns are expected to be submitted in arrears within the first 10 days of the following month, for which the returns are due.
According to the Notice, the penalties for late submission of MEQ returns are as follows:
i. Submission of returns from the 11th - 20th day of the following month attracts a penalty of N100,000 per month.
ii. Submission of returns from the 21st – 25th day of the following month attracts a penalty of N150,000 per month.
iii. Submission of returns from the 26th day of the following month attracts a penalty of N200,000 per month
The returns, which should be submitted via this link, must contain relevant information on expatriates, such as passport number, nationality, age, gender and residence permit number. Also, the National Identification Numbers (NIN), email addresses, dates of birth and phone numbers of the Nigerians assigned to understudy the expatriates must be submitted. It should be noted that organisations that have been submitting physical copies of their returns to the FMI must now submit them online following this announcement.
Commentaries
It appears that the introduction of penalties is meant to ensure compliance with the requirement for online submission of MEQ utilization returns. This will help promote the drive for the digitization of processes at the Ministry.
However, it raises the question of whether the FMI possesses the powers to impose such penalties when the principal Act does not explicitly grant this power to the Minister. It should be noted that regulations derive their authority from the enabling legislation. Interestingly, the penalties prescribed in the Notice are even at variance with what was stated in the Nigeria Immigration Regulations 2017. The other relevant issue is whether the FMI can validly impose the penalty without going to the courts. Otherwise, this will amount to the FMI being a judge in its own case. It is only the courts that have the powers to come to the finding that an offence or a violation of the law has taken place.
While that debate is on, organizations with expatriates in their employment should take appropriate action to prevent the imposition of penalties that may arise from non-compliance with these new guidelines. KPMG is well placed to provide the required support.
Please click here to read the FMI's Public Notice on the issue.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
