After extensive lobbying from key tourism industry associations, the Department of Home Affairs has released a second draft amendment of the Immigration Regulations dealing with two categories of visas – the remote working visas (aka digital nomad visa) and the critical skills visa.
Industry has widely welcomed the move as it will be a catalyst for further tourism growth, but cautions that as long as the roll-out and implementation are managed correctly and there are no delays, baseless denials, or system failures.
“We need to fix the entire visa system in South Africa and focus on getting the basics right, or we face losing out to countries who seamlessly introduced these visas early during the pandemic,” said the CEO of the Tourism Business Council South Africa, Tshifhiwa Tshivhengwa.
City of Cape Town, FEDHASA, SATSA and the TBCSA have been lobbying since 2021 for the introduction of a digital nomad visa and reforms to the visa regime to enable South Africa to attract…
