The newly appointed Minister of Home Affairs, Leon Schreiber, has identified improving the processes for work visas as one of his key focus areas, emphasizing their critical role in economic growth.
Businesses have voiced consistent complaints about the lengthy delays they face when obtaining work visas for senior personnel.
This, they argue, hampers economic growth. Schreiber has highlighted that addressing the visa backlog will be a top priority on his agenda.
“We absolutely have to look at visa processes. We have to take the visa issue very seriously as this is an economic catalyst for SA. We need to have a process whereby people who want to contribute skills or capital to SA are actually able to do that,” he said.
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The country suffered a significant loss when skilled individuals were unable to obtain visas, according to him. He is eagerly anticipating the introduction of a remote working visa, which will have a substantial impact once it is put into effect. This would be the first step in demonstrating to the world that South Africa is genuinely committed to attracting the talent necessary for its economy.
The interaction with the Department of International Relations & Co-operation will need to be reviewed because visa applications involve embassies in the processing. Schreiber, a dynamic 35-year-old, will bring innovative ideas to tackle the multitude of challenges faced by the department, including frequent system downtimes that lead to long queues at home affairs offices.
