According to press reports the Minister of Home Affairs has signed off certain changes that have been recommended to South Africa’s Work Visa regime. These recommendations were the product of a Report that considered the regulatory framework and processes as they pertained to Work Visas in South Africa.

The Report, inter alia, made the following recommendations:

1. Updating of the Critical Skills List more frequently;
2. Introduction of a Trusted Employer Scheme
3. Introduction of a Points Based Work Visa System
4. Introduction of New Visa Categories to cater for Remote Workers and Start-ups

These recommendations came on the back of significant criticism of the long delays and processing times for skilled foreign applicants to obtain work visas for South Africa. South Africa is suffering from a shortage of skilled workers and the complex and bureaucratic issues with obtaining a work visa have not helped this.

Now that the Minister has reportedly signed off on the recommendations the next step is that they will be gazetted over the next couple of weeks and then released for public comment. Thirty days would be allowed for public comment and then the recommendations could be passed into law.