New visa rules ‘to invite skills and to protect SA’
THE Department of Home Affairs has announced that visas for people with critical skills will now be issued based on the results of a written trade test, rather than secured employment.
At a recent talk shop in Durban to discuss the new visa regulations, the deputy minister of the department, Fatima Chohan, said the government was going out of its way to make the country more attractive to foreigners offering qualifications and skills required to develop the country’s economy.
Chohan and the director of immigration services at the department, Ronney Marhule, were at the Elangeni Hotel recently where they spoke to members of Durban’s business and tourism industry communities.
Zamo Gwala, the chief executive of Trade and Investment KwaZuluNatal, said the “information session” was aimed at getting a better understanding of the new visa regulations that had caused an outcry, particularly in the tourism industry.
Marhule said families of those with skills needed in South Africa would be issued visas as an incentive. Artisans who came to the country on this visa also stood a chance of securing citizenship, he said.
“Once they are in South Africa, they have 12 months to register with the relevant professional bodies to find employment.
“If you are an artisan and come here on a corporate visa, you can change it to a critical work skill visa without having to go back to your country of origin, like other visas,” he said.
Chohan said the new visa regulations – which required visitors to apply in person at an embassy and children to have unabridged visas – were first discussed in 1998, but only passed by Parliament in 2010.
She was unapologetic for the new rules, saying the country was “being visited by all sorts”, which had compromised its security.
One of the changes included foreign businesses employing a workforce that included at least 60% who were South Africans.
She said businesses who employed asylum seekers as security guards and general workers must be warned, as many had failed to pass through a stringent security vetting process.
South Africans should be prioritised for such employment.
The department has also established working relationships with Eskom; automobile manufacturers such as BMW, Toyota, VW and Mercedes-Benz South Africa; all major banks; all universities; oil and gas companies such as Total, BP and PetroSA; professional services firms such as Ernst & Young, Deloitte and KPMG; and consumer goods companies such as Nestlé.
Gwala said the new office at Kingsmead Office Park would provide services.