Home affairs minister Aaron Motsoaledi is to withdraw the new work visa regulations he gazetted on March 28 and says he was “ill advised” to gazette them the day before the March 29 deadline for public comments on the draft version.
This comes after a meeting at the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) last week which raised questions about the process and demanded that the regulations be withdrawn.
“We do agree with Nedlac,” the minister said at a media briefing in Pretoria on Tuesday. “I personally was ill advised to allow that to happen. It is important for me to listen to those who are raising concerns.”
Motsoaledi said he would re-gazette the regulations next week and wanted to avoid further delays. While the gist of the regulations will not change, they will rectify smaller issues that have raised concern, such as the requirement that visa applicants under the new points system must have “the ability to adapt within the republic”.
The long-awaited new work visa regulations aim to make it easier for SA to attract foreign skills and to boost investment, growth and job creation. They introduce a points-based system and remote work visas, and streamline other, cumbersome requirements.
Motsoaledi made it clear on Tuesday that the new points-based system will not replace the critical skills visas but will instead change the basis to obtain a general work visa.
The general work visa will no longer require a certificate from the department of labour confirming it is satisfied the employer could not find a suitably qualified South African for the post. “The department of labour will no longer be part of our process,” the minister said.
Instead, the general work visa will be based on points, details of which will be gazetted for public comment.
Among the criteria for points listed in the regulations gazetted on March 28 are qualifications, experience, an offer of employment and age — a criterion which raised concerns that the department could exclude older people. Motsoaledi said, however, that there was no intention to do so: “you might be surprised”.
While the department has not done away with critical skills visas, it has changed its approach to the critical skills list. This used to be updated only every four years, but the department is now gazetting updates for particular skills if and when shortages can be proved.
It has done this over the past two years, adding certain medical and nursing skills as well as veterinary surgeons.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has targeted reforms to SA’s skilled work visa system as one of his priority reforms.
Though the gazetting of the new regulations was widely welcomed by business, the department came under fire for not acting in good faith when it pre-empted the outcome of the public comment process.
Home affairs officials provided an update on the trusted employer scheme, which the department introduced last year to enable large employers to fast-track work visa applications. It has finalised 109 applications from companies of which it has confirmed 72, as part of a pilot scheme.
It plans to open the scheme to a further cohort of employers, said Yussuf Simons, the project lead for the implementation of the recommendations from the Operation Vulindlela review who now heads home affairs in the Western Cape.
To qualify for the scheme, companies have to invest at least R100m in SA and employ at least 100 people, of whom 60% must be South African. Preference is given to strategic sectors, particularly energy and infrastructure.
Lengthy delays
Multinationals operating in SA and local companies have long complained of lengthy delays in obtaining visas for foreign executives and experts, and the department last year reported a backlog of more than 74,000 visa applications.
Motsoaledi said the backlogs were mainly in spousal and dependants visas, not work visas, which make up only about 10% of visa applications.
He acknowledged that some foreign executives or professionals who have obtained critical skills visas have struggled to get visas for their spouses and children, but promised the department would put a new, single process in place to address this.
Along with the remote work visas and the points-based system, the Operation Vulindlela review also recommended that SA introduce a new start-up visa. Officials said however that this could be catered for under the existing business visa.
Update: April 10 2024
This story has been updated with new information throughout.
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