The South African government is planning to launch a revolutionizing points-based visa regime targeting freelancers around the world. This new initiative will bring the foreign employee working for companies that are located in different countries to live and spend their foreign income within South Africa, thus improving company skilled workers influx.
New Visa for the Digital Nomads
Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber said this work visa will enable foreign employees to live in South Africa for purposes of working while being paid in their home countries. Still, those who work remotely for over six months a year will have to get registered with the tax service so they would adjust well to the market and contribute to it.
Benefits for Remote Workers
This remote work visa is just as appealing as South Africa’s sunny climate and beautiful scenery and the relatively low cost of living is already a big selling point. This means foreign workers can come and feel the pulse of the culture, while boosting the economy without necessarily have to find employment with the company.
Make the application process as simple and efficient as possible
In the visa application process the South African government has enhance the position by handling some previous backlogs. This new system should hopefully serve to appeal to high-quality candidates, especially those discouraged by processing times in the past.
Economic Impact
This new visa, Minister Schreiber says, will be effective towards growth of the economy. Skills can help South Africa’s government to achieve two major goals at once – improve the economic growth of the country and increase tax revenue. As the economists state, the annual influx of only 11, 000 tertiary educated workers may contribute to the country’s economic growth of 1.2%.
