President Cyril Ramaphosa says the visa reforms gazetted by home affairs minister Leon Schreiber on Wednesday are a key step towards attracting international skills and investment, growing tourism and creating jobs.
The gazetted notices contain details of how the points system for critical skills and general work visas will work as well as the requirements for a remote work visa.
“These reforms remove bureaucratic hurdles and are designed to make it easier for South African companies and multinationals to hire skilled workers as well as making South Africa a realistic prospect for remote workers seeking an opportunity to combine work with tourism,” Ramaphosa said.
“The opportunities unlocked by our new system are a passport to faster economic growth and to welcoming more people around the world to our beautiful country. Many more reforms are in process with the aim of us achieving more rapid, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, which is the priority of the government of national unity.”
The opportunities unlocked by our new system are a passport to faster economic growth and to welcoming more people around the world to our beautiful country.
— President Cyril Ramaphosa
Ramaphosa said the reforms were another success under Operation Vulindlela, a joint initiative of the Presidency and the Treasury to accelerate the implementation of structural reforms and support economic growth.
“The remote work visa will enable highly paid individuals who are employed abroad and thus do not compete with local workers to spend foreign currency in South Africa, pay VAT into the South African fiscus and buy South African goods and services, helping to grow jobs,” Ramaphosa said.
“The new points-based system for skilled work visas will create more flexible pathways for highly skilled applicants while combating corruption and inefficiency,” the president said.
The new system, which was a key recommendation of the work visa review published in 2023, introduced a transparent set of criteria to objectively determine who qualified for a critical skills or general work visa.
“This will better protect existing jobs at the lower end of the labour market while injecting skills at the top.”
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