- South Africa has long been a global tourist hotspot.
- By introducing remote working visas the tourism and the hospitality industry will get a big boost.
As part of its efforts to attract more skilled workers to the country, South Africa is reportedly considering the adoption of a remote-working visa. Remote-working visas are travel permits that allow longer legal stay of travelling professionals .Beside, it is simple like tourist visas, easy to obtain with minimum paperwork and does not need a work contract.
The idea was mooted by the Western Cape provincial government and President Cyril Ramaphosa confirmed that the suggestion is under consideration in his state of the nation address last week. The new visa has to be introduced through an amendment to Section 11 of the Immigration Act, which allows an extension of visas beyond 90 days for specific activities.
Apart from the normal documents requirements, the  remote visa application will need  evidence of employment abroad, as well as a sufficient income from such employment or own business registered abroad and permission of the applicant’s dependants to accompany them
The City of Cape Town foresees significant benefits from such a visa that will attract working tourists that can give a significant boost to the economy with a ripple effect on transport, accommodation, retail, and restaurants. It is reported that working tourists spend an average R50,000 during their stay. Remote workers tend to stay beyond three months in a location.
Plans are afoot to rope in industry bodies such as CTT and the Federated Hospitality Association of South Africa (Fedhasa) to get the process on creating specific product and pricing categories. After detailed technical work and extensive consultations with business and labour, the government has come out with a critical skills list.
