Tourism industry frustrations over the delay in effecting a remote working visa policy for South Africa may be coming to an end, depending on the speed at which the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) implements the recommendations of a report submitted to it on Wednesday (November 9).
According to Mireille Wenger, Provincial Minister of Finance and Economic Opportunities in the Western Cape, DHA Director-General Livhuwani Makhode confirmed that recommendations for the visa reforms (a priority laid out in national government’s Operation Vulindlela set of structural reforms) had been finalised and submitted to the DHA. The report has not yet been made public.
“While this is a positive development, it is a growing concern that the process is taking as long as it is,” Wenger said.
“Other destinations have moved with pace to introduce this job-creating visa, including our neighbour, Namibia, and already they are benefiting from this being in place. There is no need to wait another year for a measure that would be hugely beneficial to the South African economy,” she added.
SA failing to capitalise
The tourism industry has criticised government for failing to fast-track the visa, which has been widely touted as a highly effective and easy-to-implement intervention to grow the embattled sector.
National FEDHASA Chair, Rosemary Anderson, pointed out that almost 50 countries had introduced digital nomad visas, and South Africa was missing out on immense potential for income generation, investment and job creation.
“Mauritius and the Seychelles are capitalising handsomely by providing welcoming attractive visa application conditions. Many countries are bending over backwards to try to attract this new lucrative market and some are installing quality high-speed WiFi networks in rural areas needing an economic boost in order to encourage digital nomads to live and work from there,” said Anderson, reiterating her calls for faster implementation.
“We are being left behind and depriving many people of jobs, who otherwise would have been employed in this exciting new tourism market. So, as FEDHASA, we sincerely hope that the implementation of a welcoming and fair digital nomad visa system is introduced urgently.”
On the same day as the report was submitted, James Vos, the City of Cape Town’s Mayoral Committee Member for Economic Growth, participated in a panel on remote working at World Travel Market London.
“Research indicates that digital nomads tend to stay in one destination longer than three months while spending up to R50 000 (€2 800) per visit. One report of a remote worker incentive programme in a city in Oklahoma in the US shows that these travellers generated nearly $20 million in additional local gross domestic product. With a special visa, South Africa stands to realise such gains,” Vos pointed out.
No need to amend Immigration Act
Tourism industry stakeholders argue that the visa could be easily implemented within the existing legal framework laid out by the Immigration Act, by making minor adjustments to regulations, without the need for a lengthy amendment process.
In a proposal to the DHA, first submitted in May 2021 and again in September 2022, the Western Cape Government suggested that the regulations could be adapted by including remote work on the list of occupations allowed for employees of foreign companies. It remains to be seen whether the recommendations of the report submitted to the DHA will align with the proposal.
