White paper on the repositioning of Home Affairs: Public encouraged to provide comment

White Paper On The Repositioning Of Home Affairs – Public Encouraged To Provide Comment

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The Department of Home Affairs released a Discussion Paper on its Repositioning for public comment in May 2017. The inputs informed the drafting of the White Paper that will provide the policy framework for drafting legislation that will define the mandate, role, status and obligations for Home Affairs in the future. This white paper is now available for public comment and discussion.

Click here to view the White Paper on Home Affairs.

Source: DHA

Draft regulations on the employment of foreign nationals

Draft Regulations on the Employment of Foreign Nationals

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The Draft Regulations (click here for a copy) include proposals affecting the applications of work visas, corporate visas and the submissions of skills transfer plans.

The Regulations centers around the protection of local labour by first seeking employers to exhaust the local labour market before looking at employing foreign nationals.

Where a foreign national is then approved where a citizen is not available, skills transfer is require in a monitored manner and requiring annual reporting.

The Draft Regulation notches up the requirements for work and corporate visas in the following areas:

  • Requesting proof of registration with a Professional Body (before only needed for Critical Skills visas);
  • Proof that 60% of total staff compliment employed are SA citizens or Permanent Residents (before only required for Business Visas and Corporate Visas);
  • Additional requirements when advertising available positions;
  • Legislated timelines of 10 days for the Department to provide feedback on suitable candidates from the ESSA system; and
  • Reciprocally only allows companies 10 days for feedback on the candidates provided.

It further increases the involvement of Department of Labour by legislating the need for an annual skills transfer report submitted to the Department to monitor the skills transfer progress.

This provides an opportunity for industry leading Human Resource and mobility practitioners alike to help shape law.

Should you be interested in participating and providing your input, please contact Marisa Jacobs on marisa@xpatweb.com.

We will ensure a collated and sanitized formal submission is prepared and submitted to the Department and in the format, which has impacted previous law changes.

Biztrends 2019: Out with the old, in with the new

BizTrends 2019: Out with the old, in with the new!

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The White Paper on International Migration in South Africa released mid-2017 emphasised that the international migration policy was outdated and suggested a number of prominent changes to update the policy framework to align with the National Development Plan and more strategic application of immigration practices. We have seen some implementation of these strategic changes already, most noticeably in the latter part of 2018.

Herewith the top five strategic changes:

  1. The announcement of the new critical skills list due in April 2019
  2. The 10-year Business Visa for BRICS nations
  3. Visa free travel to South Africa for Kenya nationals
  4. Permanent Residency for students studying towards a Critical Skill
  5. Scrapping of the unabridged birth certificate for parents travelling with children
What will 2019 hold?

The highly anticipated new critical skills list

The Department is currently finalising its consultation process before implementing a revised critical skills list in April 2019. The new list will reflect an updated list of those occupations where demand outweigh supply and the Department of Home Affairs recognises these skills as critical for business and ultimately economic development in South Africa.

The 2018 survey on Critical Skills was recently completed by Xpatweb and over 100 responses from large corporates and multinationals were received. The survey focused on skills that local organisations find most challenging to recruit locally, and as a result expands their search internationally to recruit global talent. The survey comes just in time to provide input in terms of the review of the critical skills list.

The full results will be released later in November, but an initial analysis reveals that companies are still hard-pressed to find skills across a variety of occupations including engineering, C-suite executives, ICT occupations and health care professionals. Additional occupations that weren’t featured in last year’s survey include STEM teachers and lecturers, as well as specialist chefs and food technologists.

Increased investment and economic growth

On the back of changes such as the 10-year port of entry visas for BRICS business executives, visa-free travel for Kenya (with other African countries anticipated to follow) and scrapping of the unabridged birth certificate requirement for parent travelling with children, these changes pave a way for growth in the tourist sector as well as to attract business and investment to the country.

Other expected changes in 2019

  • The visa requirements for highly skilled foreigners will be revised;
  • The list of countries requiring visas for South Africa will be reviewed;
  • Critical Skills Work Visas for foreign graduates who studied a critical skills area;
  • Delinking of Permanent Residency and Citizenship through a points-based system; and
  • Implementation of Section 8 of the Employment Services Act pertaining to the employment of foreign nationals

 

Closure of SAQA offices during the festive season

Closure of SAQA offices during the Festive Season

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  Please note that Foreign Qualifications Evaluation and Advisory Services will be closed to the public from 16:30 on Friday, 21 December 2018 and re-open at 09h00 on Thursday, 03 January 2019.  

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Update: First amendment of immigration regulations of 2014

UPDATE: FIRST AMENDMENT OF IMMIGRATION REGULATIONS OF 2014

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Most of the changes are mere formalisations of the announcement of recent weeks by the DHA.

Below a summary of the 5 changes implemented –

  1. Traveling of minors:
    • A birth certificate is no longer required to be produced by foreign minors travelling. However, it is worth noting that the immigration officer may still request same.
    • Should both parents be present when traveling with a foreign minor, no documentation is required.
    • Should it be a single parent, it will be best to keep the necessary documentation on hand.
  1. Life Partner Relationships:
    • Compulsory interviews with both parties within a permanent relationship have been changed to optional – thus, parties in a permanent relationship ‘may’ be interviewed.
  1. General Work Visa and Corporate Visa:
    • A Department of Labour letter is being specifically issued to the prospective South African employer confirming the Department of Labour Certificate has been issued to the Department of Home Affairs. This will accordingly notify the prospective employer of the recommendation by Labour therefore ensuring applications are not unknowingly filed for General Work Visas and Corporate Visas where Labour recommendations have not been granted.
  1. Business Visa:
    • The certificates or, per new regulations also knows as “a factual finding report” issued by a chartered accountant or professional accountant accordingly registered have been expanded to also include “business accountant registered with the South African Institute for Business Accountants”.
  1. Religious leaders may apply for long term visas:
    • Contemplated in section 11(1)(b)(iv) the above is subject to ‘a religious leader of a recognised religious organisation or denomination’.

Currently, no major changes have come into effect as yet, such as the revision of requirements to attract Critical Skills to South Africa. These “more substantial” amendments are expected by April 2019 following the elections.