Home affairs gazettes visa reforms to attract global talent

The department of home affairs has gazetted the remote work visitor visa and a new points-based system for work visas that it hopes will attract global talent to the country.

The changes are a high priority for the government of national unity, with President Cyril Ramaphosa in July calling for an “overhaul the visa regime to attract skills and investment and grow the tourism sector”.

Home affairs minister Leon Schreiber describes the introduction of the remote work visitor visa – effectively a digital nomad visa – and the points-based system for work visas as the “single most progressive and pro-jobs regulatory reform South Africa has seen in decades”.

The new points-based system introduces a transparent framework to adjudicate visas in order to tackle corruption

“The department’s meticulous attention to detail to ensure that these reforms are fit-for-purpose and market friendly has resulted in two products that begin to reposition South Africa as a world-class destination for investment and tourism to create thousands of new jobs for South Africans,” Schreiber said in a statement.

“Importantly, the new points-based system also introduces a transparent framework to adjudicate visas in order to tackle corruption,” he added.

He said the new points-based system will help combat corruption and inefficiency by cutting red tape and introducing a transparent points scale to determine who qualifies for a critical skills or general work visa.

Threshold

“For general work visa applications submitted outside of the Trusted Employer Scheme, a newly-introduced threshold of R650 796 in gross annual income – which amounts to double the median income in the formal sector – will better protect existing jobs at the lower end of the market while injecting skills at the top,” Schreiber said.

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“Independent research commissioned by the Reserve Bank and the International Food Policy Research Institute shows that growing the number of high-end skills as a share of the total South African population by just 0.02%, can boost annual economic growth by up to 1.2%. The same research projects that an enhanced visa regime can create seven new jobs for every additional skilled worker attracted into the economy.” — © 2024 NewsCentral Media