After extensive lobbying from key tourism industry associations, the Department of Home Affairs has released a second draft amendment of the Immigration Regulations dealing with two categories of visas – the remote working visas (aka digital nomad visa) and the critical skills visa.
Industry has widely welcomed the move as it will be a catalyst for further tourism growth, but cautions that as long as the roll-out and implementation are managed correctly and there are no delays, baseless denials, or system failures.
“We need to fix the entire visa system in South Africa and focus on getting the basics right, or we face losing out to countries who seamlessly introduced these visas early during the pandemic,” said the CEO of the Tourism Business Council South Africa, Tshifhiwa Tshivhengwa.
City of Cape Town, FEDHASA, SATSA and the TBCSA have been lobbying since 2021 for the introduction of a digital nomad visa and reforms to the visa regime to enable South Africa to attract skilled individuals to help develop and grow the economy.
“To boost tourism, facilitate foreign investment, and allow digital nomads to work in South Africa, while spending their earnings here, we need to make it as easy as possible for them to access South Africa,” said Western Cape Provincial Minister of Finance and Economic Opportunities, Mireille Wenger.
“At the same time, it is essential that South Africa can attract and welcome skilled individuals that will contribute to growing the complexity of our economy, facilitate new industries and thereby create new South African jobs.”
Wenger pointed out that the the longer it took to implement necessary changes to the current disastrous visa regime in South Africa, the more opportunities the country missed out on to grow the economy and create jobs.
“While I welcome the progress signalled by the call for comments by the Department of Home Affairs, time is really of the essence,” she said.
SATSA CEO, David Frost, said: “We wholeheartedly applaud proposals to let digital nomads live and work here much more easily. Attracting these talented individuals will bring significant spending and skills into the economy, enormously supporting tourism sector growth.”
He added that reforming the critical skills visa was also extremely positive to facilitate new industries and create abundant jobs.
“Swift, decisive action to transform the visa regime is sorely needed to unlock the sector and South Africa's vast economic potential. We avidly look forward to further engagement to ensure visa policies fully serve the sector and nation,” said Frost.
SA losing out on massive revenue opportunity
FEDHASA National Chairperson Rosemary Anderson expressed frustration that the need for a digital nomad visa had been discussed ad nauseam, with President Cyril Ramaphosa promising three years ago this would be urgently implemented.
“Nothing has materialised in this time. There was not even an updated mention in last week's State of the Nation Address. Meanwhile, dozens of countries have implemented successful digital nomad visas and are benefiting from the 35 million people who work remotely outside their homelands, earning on average over R200 000 (€9 845) per month. The two primary criteria for choosing a country are Internet quality and cost of living. South Africa fares favourably on both fronts.
“It makes little sense why Home Affairs cannot do what so many other countries have managed. They could easily copy best practices at this point. If we framed this in monetary terms, perhaps we could persuade the government regarding the hospitality jobs they are losing without a digital nomad visa.”
SA far behind its competitors
Anderson highlighted that while SA waited for Home Affairs to take action, countries like Namibia, Kenya, and Mauritius were claiming their share of the estimated $787 billion yearly contribution to the global economy.
“With a fair share of the 35 million digital nomads and $787 billion, South Africa could create hundreds of thousands of jobs. If the Government is serious about job creation, introducing this visa through simple administration would be an easy win,” she said.
“Collaboration between business and government, especially in tourism and hospitality, is the only solution for massive job creation in our country.”
Wenger joined Frost in “strongly encouraging” all those who wish to see South Africa’s economy grow and thrive, creating hundreds of thousands of new jobs, to review the draft second amendments and submit their comments to the Department of Home Affairs, by the deadline of March 29.
Submissions can be emailed to the Chief Director: Legal Services at Luvo.vena@dha.go.za.
