Before you start

A written answer from the DGM and/or the Ministère de l'Intérieur on the current application of Loi 86-007 to Kasaï-Oriental, and on the exemption procedure if it applies
An employment contract with a DRC-registered employer, who is the applicant for the work card
Six months' prior lawful stay in the DRC before the establishment file is accepted
Passport valid at least six months, four identical photographs, the DGM form and fiche d'immatriculation
International vaccination card — yellow fever is checked on arrival
Attestation de bonne vie et mœurs and an attestation de résidence for your address here

Step-by-step

1
Ask the mining-zone question, in writing, before anything else
Put the question to the DGM and to the Ministère de l'Intérieur et Sécurité: does Loi 86-007 still apply to Kasaï-Oriental, and if so what is the current procedure for a dérogation de séjour or a permis de circulation under arrêté 86/0663? Get the answer on paper. An employer's assurance, a colleague's experience or a website's silence are not answers to a criminal statute — and if the answer is that the law is not enforced, you want that from the authority that would enforce it.
In personWho: You and your employer, jointlyBefore you accept the postingNone to ask; the alternative is a criminal exposure
2
Enter on a travel visa, with a sponsor
Apply through the DGM portal at evisa.gouv.cd or a Congolese mission. Travel visas run eight days to six months and must be used within three months of issue; a Congolese sponsor is a substantive requirement. Reaching Mbuji-Mayi means a domestic flight from Kinshasa, so build the internal leg into both your itinerary and your visa validity.
OnlineWho: You, with your employer as sponsorThe electronic route advertises around 72 hoursReported at USD 83 for one month single-entry to USD 400 for six months multiple-entry; the electronic airport visa at USD 390 all-in. Confirm on the portal
3
Your employer files the work card with the provincial Division de l'Emploi
Applicants outside Kinshasa lodge with the Division provinciale de l'Emploi et du Travail, which feeds the national Commission Nationale de l'Emploi des Étrangers. The chain afterwards is identical everywhere — commission, DGRAD note de perception, payment, biometric capture, card printing, delivery. Under Ordonnance 87-281 art. 9 the work card is a precondition of the work establishment visa, not a consequence of it.
Via employerWho: Your employerMonths rather than weeks, with transit time on topUSD 280 total: USD 130 by bank deposit for the form and card production, USD 150 to the CNEE secretariat
4
File the establishment visa at the DGM
Categories under Ordonnance 87-281: work (with the work card, two years maximum), ordinary (three years, renewable, own means), special (five years, investors approved under the investment code), studies (one year) and missionary (five years, renewable). In this province the missionary category is genuinely mainstream — the church runs a large share of the schools and clinics and posts foreign staff into them.
In personWho: YouNo published service standardAround USD 653 for the work category and USD 700 for the ordinary one circulate in Congolese sources; USD 100 for students. No official page confirms them — pay only against a DGRAD note de perception
5
Keep every piece of paper, and keep it on you
Ordonnance-loi 83-033 art. 11 requires you to produce your stay documents on demand and art. 22 makes irregular stay criminal. In a province where a foreigner's presence may additionally engage Loi 86-007, the complete file — visa, work card, and any dérogation — is not bureaucratic caution, it is the whole of your position at a checkpoint.
In personWho: YouAlwaysNone

Documents you’ll need

Written confirmation of your position under Loi 86-007, and any dérogation or permis de circulation issued
Passport valid at least six months, with visa and entry-stamp copies
Four identical recent passport photographs
DGM application form and fiche d'immatriculation
International vaccination card (yellow fever)
Attestation de bonne vie et mœurs and attestation de résidence
Employer's work-card file plus every DGRAD note de perception and receipt

Things most newcomers don’t know

This is the only province in our DRC coverage where a statute on its face bans foreign residence.

Loi 86-007's Article 1 designates 'toute l'étendue de la région du Kasaï oriental' — the whole province, not a district. By contrast Katanga is not on the schedule at all, and in Tshopo only Bafwasende territory is. The variation is precise and it is not intuitive, which is exactly why it needs checking rather than assuming.

Source: Loi n° 86-007 du 27 décembre 1986, art. 1

We could not establish how the law is applied, and we are not going to pretend otherwise.

It predates the 2015 provincial reorganisation, uses the vocabulary of Zaïre, and sits in LEGANET's compilation of texts on foreigners with no repeal noted. Foreigners plainly do live and work in Mbuji-Mayi. Both of those things can be true, and the resolution is a written answer from the authorities rather than an inference from either. Treat any source that confidently tells you the law is dead — or that confidently describes an exemption process — as unverified until the DGM confirms it.

Source: LEGANET compilation of Congolese texts on foreigners; no repealing instrument found

The exemption route runs through a commission, not a counter.

Arrêté 86/0663 creates an interdepartmental commission chaired by territorial administration and including the secretaries-general for the economy, mines and labour plus security-service delegates. That is a national-level body, which means the process is not something a provincial office resolves and not something that moves quickly. Budget accordingly.

Source: Arrêté interdépartemental n° 86/0663 du 4 décembre 1986

The work card still comes before the visa, everywhere.

Ordonnance 87-281 art. 9 makes a valid carte de travail the condition of the work establishment visa. The intuitive order is backwards, and in July 2024 the Ministry of Employment announced a nationwide inspection mission of employers of foreign workers to find people working without one.

Source: Ordonnance n° 87-281 art. 9; Ministère de l'Emploi, July 2024

Common mistakes to avoid

Accepting a posting to Kasaï-Oriental without a written answer on Loi 86-007
Taking an employer's or an agent's verbal assurance about a criminal statute
Arriving expecting to land on an establishment visa — six months of prior lawful residence come first
Paying anyone anything without a DGRAD note de perception
Travelling to diggings or concessions without authorisation
Photographing mining installations, government buildings or the airport

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.