Home Affairs called to answer for President’s repeated remote worker visa announcements

17 April 2023

I have invited Home Affairs to brief the Standing Committee on Finance, Economic Opportunities and Tourism on the progress made in implementing a remote worker visa on 3 May 2023. They are due to respond to this invitation today.

This will form part of the Standing Committee meeting to unpack the successes and challenges of the recent summer tourism season, aiming to identify and rectify bottlenecks that are holding the Western Cape’s tourism economy back – which includes a focus on the implementation of the remote working visa.

Among those invited to report to Standing Committee are the Department of Home Affairs, the Provincial Department of Economic Development and Tourism, Wesgro, the City of Cape Town and Cape Town Tourism, the National Department of Transport, and Airports Company South Africa.

The President has announced the establishment of a remote worker visa or digital nomad visa three times already, and predictably it still has not been implemented, despite the supposed fast-tracking of the remote worker visa as one of the Project Vulindlela priorities.

To add insult to injury, last week at the fifth South Africa Investment Conference the President further announced a new visa regime to facilitate the entry of skilled labour into the country and the ability of multinational companies to employ their own executives and technicians from outside the country.

Having previously written to and followed up with the Office of the Presidency on the implementation of remote working visas as a visa category, I am extremely pessimistic that this latest commitment by the President will come to fruition.

It is, however, essential that the remote working visa be implemented. Remote workers already have jobs, earn in foreign currency, and spend that money in our shops, restaurants, and accommodation. There is no threat to local jobs, and the increased spending is likely to lead to the creation of more South African jobs, which is sorely needed. We are falling behind other African countries like Cape Verde, Mauritius and Namibia who are already benefitting from these visas.

Home Affairs needs to account for the lack of urgency in implementing a visa that will have a marked positive economic effect on our tourism and hospitality sectors. It appears that once again the ANC National Government is operating without any sense of coordination between what is said, and what gets done.

Issued by Cayla Murray, DA Western Cape Spokesperson on Finance, Economic Opportunities and Tourism, 17 April 2023