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One year on, SA still doesn’t offer remote working visa

Details

southafricalogoMoneyweb reports that it’s been a year since President Cyril Ramaphosa said in his 2022 state of the nation address (Sona) that a comprehensive review of the work visa system was “currently underway”.

Led by a former director-general of Home Affairs, the review was said to be “exploring the possibility of new visa categories that could enable economic growth”, including “a remote working visa”. The president has apparently been in possession of a report with recommendations on the adoption of the remote working visa since December. In his 2023 Sona Ramaphosa provided the following update: “Having completed a comprehensive review of the work visa system, we will move quickly to implement the recommendations put forward. We will also be introducing a remote worker visa and a special dispensation for high-growth start-ups.” Rosemary Anderson of the Federated Hospitality Association of Southern Africa (Fedhasa) said it was “inexcusable that we have not done this yet.” According to her, several other jurisdictions have been quick off the mark to capitalise on the growing number of ‘digital nomad’ or remote workers. Every day lost is a missed opportunity to earn foreign currency and create jobs, Anderson lamented. “Questions regarding tax, length of stay, health insurance and other factors have all been sorted out by dozens of countries, so there is no reason why we can’t do the same,” she pointed out. “We need to start equating all the obstacles created by government in terms of job losses … Home Affairs’ tourism visa protocols, [the] lack of a true eVisa system and the long missing-in-action digital nomad visa is damaging and stunting tourism job creation in South Africa,” Anderson stated.

  • Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Amanda Visser at Moneyweb


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