Skilled Immigration in South Africa: Policy Challenges and Solutions

The Development Policy Research Unit (DPRU) provided input into Operation Vulindlela’s comprehensive review of the regulatory framework and processes for the Critical Skills and General Work visas to improve the efficiency of the framework and processes.

The Report of the Work Visa Review was published in May 2023 by the Department of Home Affairs.

Some of the findings are summarised in a policy brief authored by Prof. Haroon Bhorat, Mr Zaakhir Asmal, Mr David de Villiers & Ms Lisa Martin; DPRU PB 2023/57: “Skilled Immigration in South Africa: Policy Challenges and Solutions”.

A recent survey of firms has highlighted that the current processes of obtaining the Critical Skills and General Work visas for a foreign employee is both lengthy and complex, creating limitations for the supply of skilled labourers to meet market demands. Specifically, longer delays were noted in dealings with the Department of Employment and Labour and the Department of Home Affairs. Overall, there is a clear need to either improve on the operational efficiency of the visa system in South Africa, or to structurally change the system completely in order to effectively import skills that are required in the country and address skills shortages in the short term.

This research has also been published by the DPRU as a working paper (202304) “Skilled Immigration in South Africa”, that considers a number of issues related to the need for high skilled immigrant labour to be imported into the country against a backdrop of high unemployment.

Specifically, the authors consider the following as inputs into the broader work being done by Operation Vulindlela: Evidence of the benefits associated with skilled immigration in countries; An analysis of firm experiences with the visa application process using responses from a survey of firms; A review of the operational and structural inefficiencies within the current visa application processes in South Africa, taking into consideration the nature of unemployment in South Africa and the role of Employment Services of South Africa (ESSA) data and the Critical Skills List in skilled immigration visa application assessments.