President Cyril Ramaphosa delivered his 2022 State of the Nation Address (SONA) last night and while there were several talking points, the hot button topic of migration stuck out for us as South Africa’s eVisa system has now launched in 14 countries.
The current list of eVisa countries is:
- Cameroon
- China
- DR Congo
- Egypt
- Ethiopia
- Kenya
- India
- Iran
- Mexico
- Nigeria
- Philippines
- Pakistan
- Saudi Arabia
- Uganda
With tourism being one of the most impacted industries locally as a result of the pandemic, not to mention the fact that international remains a divisive issue for many as new variants of the virus are discovered, it looks like SA is keen to open up its borders.
Added to this is the need to make travel in SA for business or work more streamlined, according to government.
“In his State of the Nation Address delivered in Cape Town this evening, President Ramaphosa said the revised Critical Skills List has been published for the first time since 2014, following detailed technical work and extensive consultations with business and labour,” SAnews reported.
“The updated list reflects the skills that are in shortage today, to ensure that our immigration policy matches the demands of our economy,” Ramaphosa said during SONA.
We could also see new categories of visa being added to the mix, with former Director-General of Home Affairs, Mavuso Msimang, being appointed to carry out a comprehensive review of the current visa system.
“This review is exploring the possibility of new visa categories that could enable economic growth, such as a start-up visa and a remote working visa,” the president added.
Moving forward we could see the list of 14 countries grow significantly in the coming years, with the United States, Australia, Canada and European Union member states being touted.
While the intention behind this is to foster greater travel into the country for economic purposes, one has to wonder what this means for homegrown talent vying for the same positions.
[Image – Photo by Mpho Mojapelo on Unsplash]
