Under the 10/15 law, refugees in Angola have the right to engage in formal employment as other foreign citizens, but in practice there are no clear procedures they can follow to apply as refugees. There is no consensus on whether refugees need a work permit to access formal employment, though employers insist that they should. Refugees in both settlements and urban areas are concentrated in the informal sector and cannot register their businesses or obtain business licences. The refugee ID is not accepted by financial institutions for opening bank accounts or operating mobile money services. The report recommends that the Government of Angola explicitly state whether refugees need a work permit to engage in formal employment, and that UNHCR and WFP scale up the Livelihoods and Economic Inclusion Strategy to reach beyond Congolese refugees.
