South Africa has scored yet another big own goal

As remote workers emerge onto the travel scene, South Africa has once again been left behind due to the government’s inability to change the country’s visa rules.

According to the City of Cape Town, South Africa is passing up an important opportunity to boost tourism and the economy after Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi stated that “there are no plans to implement a digital nomad visa,” and there appears to be little progress on the existing eVisa programme.

“This complicated and outdated visa programme is preventing our tourism industry from realising its full potential,” the city said.

According to the most recent Tourism Sentiment Index, worldwide sentiment for South African tourist activities has grown, with the country currently ranking 16th in the world.

South Africa has been voted one of the best destinations in the world for its natural beauty and experiences, as a festival and event destination, and for its food scene. The country also ranked first as a wine destination.

“The Tourism Sentiment Index proves that there is a thirst for South African travel. If, however, our visa system is not revised and improved, we stand to lose out to destinations with less arduous administrative platforms,” the city said.

According to one estimate, digital nomads contributed about $20 million (roughly R346 million) in additional local gross domestic product in Oklahoma, USA. According to the City of Cape Town, such benefits are possible with a special visa.

The city has proposed to the South African National Government that Section 11 of the Immigration Act be amended to allow visas to be extended beyond 90 days for particular purposes.

The city proposed that the modified Act contain the following provisions:

• An applicant must provide evidence of employment abroad, as well as a sufficient income from such employment or own business registered abroad;
• Prohibit the applicant’s work activities in South Africa;
• Allow the applicant’s dependants to accompany them on application.

“If South Africa were to implement such strategies, we could indeed create a tourism-related job in every home in the country. Whether you’re in aviation, boat-building, hospitality, retail, design, or clean energy, tourism relates to your work because it brings clients to your door,” it said.

Backlog

The Department of Home Affairs said this week (9 December) that it has a large visa backlog of over 56,000 applications that would not be completed until the middle of 2024.

In response to a written parliamentary question and answer session, Motsoaledi stated that his department still has to process 56,543 visas.

He stated that visa processing timeframes vary based on the kind of visa being handled. According to him, key skills visas typically take 4 to 10 weeks to process, while business and general work visas take 8 to 14 weeks.

“The department envisages to have cleared the current backlog by June 2024 for all categories of visas,” he said

Visa applications and processing have become a nightmare for South African enterprises wanting to acquire specialists and vital skills for operations.

Companies have encountered frustrating challenges obtaining various visa categories in recent months as the government fiddled with systems and shuffled processes around. Businesses have described the process of obtaining visas for foreign employees in the nation as a nightmare.

The subject of digital nomad visas or extending the eVisa system has already been addressed and dismissed by the government.

Despite President Cyril Ramaphosa’s promise in his 2022 State of the Nation Address to look at such visas, the Department of Home Affairs has made little progress in implementing them.

Motsoaledi has indicated on multiple occasions that the country’s laws do not provide for remote work visas and that there are no intentions to adopt them.

“The current visa categories are legislated by the Immigration Act No. 13 of 2002. In its current form, the Immigration Act does not make provision for digital nomad eVisa. Therefore, there are no plans to implement a digital nomad e-visa,” he said.