Legislation: Gigaba spells out business-friendly visa arrangements

The ‘e-Visa’ referred to last week as one change to immigration regulations expected by President Cyril Ramaphosa to make business travel ‘a lot more conducive’ will be piloted in New Zealand ‘by April 2019’ before being ‘rolled out in other countries’, according to Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba. However, measures to attract and retain foreigners with critical skills appear to have been in place for some time. The list underpinning them is simply being revised but will be finalised within the next six months. In terms of the regulations, foreign students graduating from South African institutions of higher learning with any of the skills concerned qualify to apply either for permanent residence or for critical skills visas, notes Pam Saxby for Legalbrief Policy Watch.

Yesterday, outlining broader measures for attracting ‘larger numbers of tourists, business people and families’, the Minister referred specifically to a ‘three-year multiple entry visa for frequent trusted travellers to SA’ and a ’10-year long-term multiple entry visa for business people and academics from Africa’ apparently already ‘implemented’.  As BRICS member countries, business people from China and India qualify for 10-year multiple entry visas that are issued within five days. ‘They do not need to apply in person, and can use courier services,’ Gigaba said, adding that the arrangement was made with the aim of attracting ‘prospective investors’. However, steps being taken to ‘simplify’ the visa requirements for tourists from ‘countries such as China and India’ are still being finalised, along with measures to ‘ease’ travel restrictions for ‘certain’ African countries, including Nigeria, Kenya and Uganda.

Turning to tourism, the Minister made a point of reminding stakeholders that visa waivers are already in place for travellers from the UK, US, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Australia, Brazil and Canada. Citizens of the Russian Federation and Angola have qualified for them since 1 April and 1 December 2017 respectively, while negotiations on similar arrangements are being finalised with the governments of Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Sao Tome and Principe, Tunisia, the Saharawi-Arab Democratic Republic, Ghana, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Palestine, Iran, Lebanon, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, Belarus, Georgia and Cuba. Simpler requirements for foreign minors entering SA are expected to be in place by the end of next month.