Home Affairs refiles work-permit changes to create nomad visa

The Department of Home Affairs has refiled long-awaited changes to its work permit regime to allow for the creation of a so-called nomad visa for remote workers.

The 20 May gazetting of the changes, which had been withdrawn last month after the department failed to observe a mandatory period for public comment, means the changes are now law.

It also seeks to allow people employed and paid by companies elsewhere to live in the country as long as they earn at least R1 million annually.

The visa comes with a short-term tax exemption.

The step, acting on recommendations made by the office of the president, comes amid criticism from some of the nation’s biggest foreign-owned employers over their inability to get technicians and executives into the country.

South Africa’s byzantine system means applicants can wait for more than a year to get a work permit even though a poor local education system has left companies without skilled workers. – bloomberg