South African immigration regulations don’t presently allow a person to work in South African where he/she is not employed by a South African company or not doing work for a foreign company that has contracted with a South African company. Technically a person may not work remotely whilst in South Africa on a Tourists Visa.

Covid-19 has accelerated the trend of more people working remotely, and many people are now deciding to work remotely far from where their employers are based. A number of countries have recognized this trend and have introduced “remote working visas” or “digital nomad visas”. These countries include the following: Spain, Germany, Dubai, Mauritius, Norway, Croatia and Portugal.

Cape Town recently featured in the top 50 cities for remote working as released by the global travel site. Big 7 Travel. The site had the following comments:

“Cape Town sometimes gets a bad rap for its droughts, iffy wifi and occasional safety concerns,” Big 7 wrote. “However, it still manages to reel in digital nomads by the thousands. Despite having a few drawbacks, Cape Town boasts an incredibly connected expat and digital nomad scene from all corners of the globe. The scenery doesn’t hurt, either. Situated right on the water, surrounded by mountains and chockfull of colourful markets and quirky neighbourhoods, Cape Town is all about the atmosphere.”

On the back of Covid-19 and the trend towards remote working the Western Cape Government intends lobbying the South African Government to introduce a “Remote Working Visa” for South Africa. Premier of the Western Cape Government had the following to say:

“We have everything it takes to be the best remote working location in the world if we remove the red tape – and roll-out the red-carpet for these travellers. To do so, South Africa urgently needs to introduce a ‘Remote Working Visa’. Most leading tourism destinations in the world have one already, and we should have one too.”