Entries by Xpatweb

Media statement on the extension of the closing date for the Zimbabwean Exemption Permit (ZEP)

31/01/2018 in , /by

By 29 January 2018, a total of 176 605 applicants had completed the entire process, which includes honouring their appointments with VFS and submitting supporting documents and biometrics.

The extension, to 15 February 2018, is only for submitting biometrics (fingerprints) and supporting documents at the 10 VFS offices listed below as well as for those who have submitted online applications by 30 November 2017 but did not pay the prescribed fee. New applications will not be accepted. By the end of September 2018, the Department plans to have completed the whole project, including finalising adjudications and issuing out of all new permits.

Online applications for the new Zimbabwean Exemption Permit opened on 15 September 2017 for valid Zimbabwe Special Permit (ZSP) holders and closed on 30 November 2017. From 1 October 2017, applicants were allocated appointments so they could provide the required fingerprints and supporting documents at VFS offices. By the closing date of online applications, 30 November 2017, a total of 196 006 applications were received. No applications were accepted after the closing date.

The ZSP which started in 2014 with 197 951 permits issued expired on the 31st of December 2017. ZEP permit holders will be allowed to work, study or conduct business in South Africa. The ZEP permits are valid for a maximum period of four (4) years, effective from 01 January 2018 and expiring on 31 December 2021, notwithstanding the date of issue. Exemption permits like the ZEP permits are not permanent or long-term. They only serve a specific purpose with a view ultimately to have people returning to their countries of origin, to build their lives anew.

LOCATION/OFFICES FOR PAYMENT AND SUBMISSION OF ZEP SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS AND BIOMETRICS:
DURBAN MUSGRAVE TOWERS: Musgrave Shopping mall, 5th Floor Musgrave
CAPE TOWN: 2 Long Street, 7th Floor
PORT ELIZABETH: Office 7C, 1st floor Moffet and Main, Corner 17th Ave & Main Road, Walmer
JOHANNESBURG: Mount Royal Building Unit D, 657 James crescent, Halfway house
RUSTENBERG: Cnr of Boom and Fatima Bayet street
KIMBERLY: Unit 3 Building 2, Agri Office Park, N12 Kimberly
POLOKWANE: Thornhill Shopping Centre, Veldspaat and Munnik Avenue Bendor Park
NELSPRUIT: Office 5 F, Nedbank Building, 30 Brown Street
BLOEMFONTEIN: Suite 4, The Park, 14 Reid Street Westdene
GEORGE: Unit 5 Eagle View, Progress Street

Enquiries: David Hlabane – 071 342 4284 / david.hlabane@dha.gov.za

How to Fill SA’s Immediate Skills Gap

19/01/2018 in , /by

It is therefore to every business and professional body’s benefit to engage with government to make work visa applications as easy as possible, writes Marisa Jacobs, director and head of immigration and mobility at Xpatweb (a division of Tax Consulting SA).

Simply stated, South Africa needs access to better skills to prosper and compete in the global market.
However, this is not a new revelation. The country’s skills gap – the difference between the professional talents needed by employers and those available among the working public – has been widely discussed and reported on in the media for over a decade. Rather, the study serves as the springboard for a viable solution. The results were obtained from 86 respondents, many of whom represent South Africa’s largest employers and international groups.


Recognising the problem
76,74% of those surveyed agreed that there is, in fact, a skills shortage in South Africa.
The Critical Skills List published by the Department of Home Affairs contains a catalogue of the country’s most needed competencies. These include the broad categories of business, economics and management; information communication and technology; engineering; health professions and related clinical science; life and earth sciences; professionals and associate professionals; trades; business process outsourcing; and academics and researchers.
As can be seen, the demand ranges over a wide set of sectors.
Solving the skills problem will take hard work and starts with an honest appraisal of the constraints. The sooner we do this, the faster we can address it.
The first admission we must make is that the gap exists now and a primary, immediate solution is required. Yes, formal learning and development programmes will produce a future, technically-competent national workforce – not just adequate but world-beating.
Until that day dawns, we need a stopgap.

Learning takes too long
According to one study (Young, 2010), South Africa’s universities and HEI’s are not able to produce these critical skills fast enough. For example, Young estimated that creating 34 000 additional engineers, technologists, draughtspersons and technicians needed over a two-year period would take roughly 100 years in terms of current educational capacity.
Likewise, learning and development programmes cannot scale to meet the immediate needs of the economy. Neither can businesses afford to wait, so an alternative solution is inevitably required.
75,29% of respondents in the Critical Skills Survey Results 2017 reported that they are better able to find scarce skills when they expand their search to include foreign nationals. This is a perfectly sensible solution – the right skills at the right level of expertise, available immediately to fill a skills gap that cannot otherwise be closed.
This is supported by the fact that most of those interviewed asserted that the local market has been fully scouted for critical skills and found lacking.
Unfortunately, expatriates are seen by government and occupational stakeholders as a threat to the local workforce, taking jobs from South Africans. However, since the skillsets offered by foreign workers are evidently unavailable here, this couldn’t be further from the truth. Even so, employers will need to evangelise several fundamental changes in thinking to promote their case.
First, expats are a resource, not a threat. Importing critical skills into the country is no different from importing any other essential factor of production.
Second, not only do they offer the competencies companies desire but also the opportunity to transfer their expertise to many local workers. As such, expatriates do not diminish employment opportunities for South Africans; instead, they create jobs by their very presence.
Third, the use of expats is temporary. They are simply a bridge between today’s urgent business needs and tomorrow’s acquired competencies. Rather than replace South African talent, they will hold the fort until the reinforcements arrive.

Making it happen
89,53% of those surveyed find the work visa process an obstacle to filling critical skills positions. The procedure is laborious and time consuming. However, not acquiring these vital talents will prove most costly in lost business opportunities and low competitive advantage.
The South African workforce of tomorrow will energise the economy. In the meantime, the country needs a concrete way to source the critical skills to compete globally. As our survey reveals, businesses believe that the acquisition of foreign skills is the only sensible response.

How to Fill SA’s Immediate Skills Gap

 

How to Fill SA’s Immediate Skills Gap

TV Interview: Moeketsi Seboko on eNCA Moneyline

05/12/2017 in , /by

On 31 August 2017, our very own Moeketsi Seboko appeared on the eNCA Moneyline news channel whereby he was interviewed on the release of the acclaimed White Paper on International Migration and what the proposed changes hold for the future of South Africa.

Significant Increase In Financial Emigration For South African Expatriates

01/12/2017 in , /by

Financial emigration is a formal process with the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) to change your tax status from “resident” to “non-resident” for exchange control purposes.

Claudia Aires Apicella, financial emigration specialist at Tax Consulting, says the financial emigration process does not require the giving up of one’s citizenship, passport, the selling of property or the cancellation of bonds and financial products.

This is a SARB legal requirement as well as a South African Revenue Service (SARS) requirement to confirm non-residency.

It is based on the question whether South Africa is still a person’s usual or principle residence, thus more aptly in comparing to other countries, one’s real home. The reason most people financially emigrate is because it gives legal certainty on their non-residency status for tax and exchange control purposes, as well as holding certain financial planning benefits such as the one of the few ways of cashing out your retirement annuity.

Tax Non-Compliance

South African tax residents who are living abroad are required to declare their worldwide income to SARS. However, many have left the country without submitting correct tax returns in South Africa, or going through the formal financial emigration process.

“These expatriates are at risk and the very clear message from National Treasury and SARS is that they must get their affairs in order.” Apicella explains that when a South African just works abroad, they are still classified as a South African tax resident living temporarily abroad and are subject to South African tax laws.

However, when they emigrate financially they cease to be a South African tax resident and will not be liable to pay any South African tax on their worldwide income. They will however be required to declare any South African sourced income which may be taxable, such as rental income. Also, there is a deemed disposal for capital gains tax purpose on certain property when you emigrate, but after that you are exempt from capital gains tax and estate duty in South Africa. This deemed disposal for capital gains tax is very often also misunderstood, as this only applies to certain assets and not to fixed property.

Increased Financial Emigration

The proposed change to the taxation of foreign income earned by South African tax residents has brought about a significant increase in financial emigration applications, says Aires.

South Africans will be required to pay tax on their offshore salaries and benefits should they earn more than R1 million per annum. “National Treasury confirmed in Parliament on the 14th September 2017 that the proposed change, forcing South African expatriates to start paying tax, will proceed and take effect in March 2020. Many high earning expatriates do not only emigrate now to have personal certainty on their tax status, but they also feel the R1m exemption is not enough taken their high cost of living.”

The Process

Apicella says the process has two key regulatory components namely the change of one’s Reserve Bank status to non-resident for exchange control purposes and obtaining a SARS tax clearance.

She says the more complex part of financial emigration is getting the Emigration Tax Clearance Certificate. This is part of the process where SARS notes you formally on record as non-resident.

When applying for the tax clearance certificate it may show that there are tax returns outstanding when there has been non-compliance in prior years. The outstanding returns will have to be brought up to date before SARS will issue the required certificate. Especially where you retrospectively financially emigrate, you must ensure there is alignment between your tax position and fiscal status.