UPDATE: Transferring of Valid Visas into Expired Passports
The Department has advised that the process will continue to operate as per previous protocol and the current document must be ignored.
Archive for month: February, 2017
FEDHASA sheds light on immigration and labour regulations
There has been reference to a requirement for all businesses in the South Africa to employ a minimum of 60% South African citizens. However, this requirement, a provision in the Immigration Act and Regulations, only applies when a foreigner makes application to the Department of Home Affairs for a business visa with the intention of starting or investing in a business in the country.
One of the conditions attached to the business visa is that the applicant undertakes to employ not less than 60% South Africans including permanent residents within a period of 12 months from the date of issue of the visa. There is currently no provision in South African labour legislation that makes reference to the employment of a minimum of 60% South Africans.
Work Visas and Expanding Your Business Family
Work Legally in the Short Term
When an employee comes to render employment services in South Africa, make sure they get a valid short term work visa. Do not take a chance and tell the immigration official this is only a business trip, when the purpose is work. It is easy to be compliant and not worth the risk. The process takes 10 working days and the short-term visa is issued for three months and may be extended in South Africa for a further three months.
Do not stress when your foreign head office sends a new boss
Getting a new boss from overseas is stressful enough, let alone making them think you are not competent in sorting out their work permit status and the family’s residency permits. Luckily, the intra-company transfer work visa is one of the quickest and cleanest visas to obtain. Just make sure you understand the rules and requirements upfront, as one piece of incorrect guidance or supporting document, can put you back to square one. These take two months to obtain, end-to-end and where done effectively.
When you need that critical and rare skilled employee
What do you do when your business family just do not have an important skill that you need? There are some in the market, but they are rare and you just do not have the budget to attract and retain them?
The critical skill work visa route is a real game changer, mostly misunderstood and provides a brilliant and certain means to building a superior work force. You will be surprised to know the comprehensiveness of the qualifying skills. We have always been able to find a suitable category for a genuinely scarce skill in South Africa.
This category is also very attractive for the employer and expatriate. The employer gains a competitive edge on attraction and retention, as the visa is issued for the employer; whilst this category gives the expatriate the right to qualify in time for permanent residency in South Africa. One can rightly call this a win-win.
Do not make this crucial mistake
Stay away from the general work permit categories, except where you have a very large expatriate programme. This category has been made subject to an initial Department of Labour process, it has become virtually unobtainable. You will be promised an effective process, but after countless deadliness missed with impunity, you will still have no traction.
Waiving like a pro
The immigration laws of South Africa are very competently drafted legislation. This means that there are numerous special provisions which cater for situations that are unique and failsafe clauses, which gives discretion where you need help, but need something special for your organisation. These include waiver provisions, which gives the department the right to waive certain legislative requirements.
Where you have a large project or need to otherwise bring a large group of expatriates into South Africa, this is crucial for your expatriate programme.
Expatriate Wellness
The work visa process should not be an isolated one. The same way that all aspects of your family need looking after, the fiscal planning for an expatriate cannot be in isolation with the work visa process. This includes contracting correctly as expatriates have different terms and conditions of employment, expert tax planning including international tax planning, exchange control and banking planning; and even catering for their employee benefits, as normal South African benefit programmes are mostly too expensive for them and also seldom suitable.
Our practice has seen so many wonderful success stories with expatriates and this makes us very passionate to share information. Perhaps your business family also need an expatriate member.
AUTHOR
Marisa Jacobs
Director
Transferring of Valid Visas into Expired Passports to be Restricted
Up to date, the Department had been issuing visas for the full validity and not taking the expiry of the passports into consideration. This practice has now been suspended and visas not be issued for periods past the expiry date of the visa.
Chinese SAQA Pre-verification
The China Academic Degrees and Graduate Education Evaluation Committee (CADGEEC), a special committee subordinate to the China Academic Degrees and Graduate Education Association, is a social academic organization nationwide consisting of the unit engaged in the work of academic degrees and graduate education and the evaluation institution. CADGEEC accepts the professional guidance of the Office of the Academic Degrees Committee of the State Council (ADCSC) and the administration of the China Academic Degrees and Graduate Education Association. Its secretariat is located in the China Academic Degrees and Graduate Education Development Center (CADGEDC).