Hundreds of thousands of people are set to lose their jobs as
economies tank â€` but the optimistic view is that that’s an
opportunity for the future, rather than the very real catastrophe
it feels like at the moment â€` particularly in the SME space.

It’s a rare economic situation that sees major corporations
struggling as much as SME’s, and the upshot is that people may
have to create employment opportunities for themselves and others,
rather than returning to the jobs they had before the pandemic.

“The world will need more entrepreneurs, whose smart ideas can
help rebuild economies, create employment opportunities and re-
establish â€` and rebuild â€` the livelihoods of entire communities,”
says Charmaine Lambert of Absa’s WorkInProgress.

Time saving


Many have glibly asked ‘could that meeting have been an email?’
but the reality is that the working world is rapidly discovering
the benefits of finding new ways to address business needs, that
rely less on physical face-to-face interactions.

Catching up as a group on a Zoom meeting is important, but cutting
out a commute, the niceties of the preamble to a meeting and
repeating yourself for the guy who stumbled in five minutes late
has made meetings more efficient and to-the-point.

Meetings won’t go away, because humans are collaborative. It takes
one person to have a great idea, but it takes a team to realise
and implement it â€` which is why co-working spaces will remain an
important part of life for those taking up the challenge of
employing themselves, and others by forming SME’s, in the new
world order.

Decentralising operations


The shift in ways of working has also shown that decentralisation
is possible â€` something that may become a necessity in the future.
All those shiny offices in global centres are expensive line items
on the annual budget, and since budgets are going to be way
tighter â€` if not non-existent â€` in future, even SME’s may have to
make peace with the fact that not everyone needs to share a space.
And knowing what we know now about how easy it is to spread
viruses in close-contact working spaces, there’s a convincing
health argument for decentralisation, too.

If an SME team is driven enough, nobody will have to worry about
clock-watching or ensuring that people are doing their jobs by
having a manager stalking the halls and peering over cubicle
walls. There will be essential functions that rely on being
physically present in a space â€` but there’s no reason that
different functions of a business can’t be split across different
spaces, cities or even time zones to maximise efficiency and save
costs.

And with the flexibility of working time now becoming an option
across many industries, that demand

will need to be catered for by
SME’s and other employers, in the future.

Greener business


Building more efficient spaces has been an important global trend
over the past few years as companies realise the impact their
business has on the planet. What about the environmental cost of
getting people to that office every day, and of business travel?

Cutting out the commute for the global workforce has already had a
noticeable effect on the environment â€` fake-news dolphins in the
canals of Venice, aside â€` so now that we’ve proven it’s possible
to decentralise or work remotely, why not continue that?

Carbon monoxide emissions in New York have been slashed by 50%
over the past few weeks â€` mostly on the back of reduced road
traffic - and analysis by climate website Carbon Brief indicates
that the shutdown in China has resulted in a 25% drop in energy
use and emissions over a two week period at the height of the
pandemic there, which is set to lead to an overall drop of 1% in
the country’s carbon emissions for 2020.

As the industry ramps up again around the world, emissions will
rise once more, but those numbers do illustrate the significant
impact a reduction in worker commuting, can have for the planet.

4IR creating opportunities


While there’s plenty of concern that the Fourth Industrial
Revolution (4IR) is going to cost millions of jobs, it’s also set
to deliver millions of opportunities and plenty of efficiencies.

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) can take over manual, repetitive
tasks â€` but instead of making the people in those functions,
redundant, it frees them up to tackle more important and non-
automatable tasks which can improve business operations. The
global economic crisis means that efficiency and multitasking are
going to become the order of the day â€` something the lean SME
space is used to, to an extent.

Embrace technology and let the people who are the heart of your
business focus on helping you re-establish it and re-invent it.
It’s time to innovate.

“While things are set to be very different, there’s a huge benefit
to collaboration to establishing and maintaining a dynamic, agile
business,” says Lambert.

“Entrepreneurs and innovators thrive off being able to kick around
ideas, sense-check decisions with others and find ways for
seemingly-unrelated companies to work together to deliver
unprecedented opportunity â€` and there’s nothing the world is going
to need more than opportunity, once we come out the other side of
this



www.samigration.com V.3051

One of the highlighted topics: Critical Skills Visa.

- Key Insight: Is your profession on the Critical Skills List? This visa is your fast track to working in South Afr...
- This matter relates to critical skills visa and its broader implications.
- Individuals are advised to seek professional guidance.

Is your profession on the Critical Skills List? This visa is your fast trac V.6139
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One of the applicants, Phindile Mazibuko, became a victim of identity theft in 2012 when fraudulent transactions occurred, using her personal details.

-The Pretoria High Court found that the department of home affairs had violated constitutional rights without due process.
-Only half of Lawyers for Human Rights` test group has been unblocked, while 385 000 identities remain blocked nationwide.
-LHR appeals extension, urges affected people to seek help now.

Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) are intensifying pressure on the department of home affairs over the national ID-blocking crisis, accusing the state of acting too slowly to unblock qualifying individuals despite a landmark court ruling.

In January last year, the Pretoria High Court found that the department`s practice of blocking IDs without due process was unlawful and unconstitutional. One of the applicants, Phindile Mazibuko, a Swati citizen and South African permanent resident since 1998, fell victim to identity theft in 2012 when fraudsters used her personal details.

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The Border Management Authority (BMA) has doubled its staff at Airports in South Africa , including immigration officers.

What does this mean for travelers? V.6128
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The Border Management Authority (BMA) has doubled its staff at Airports in South Africa , including immigration officers.

What does this mean for travelers? V.6129
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A Washington state mother and her 6-year-old son have been released after spending more than three weeks in US immigration detention due to a brief trip to Canada and a small paperwork mistake, her attorney told CNN on Saturday.

Sarah Shaw, a New Zealand citizen who has lived legally in the US since she arrived in 2021, was detained at the Blaine, Washington, Customs and Border Protection checkpoint when returning home after dropping her two oldest children off at the Vancouver airport for a flight to visit their grandparents in New Zealand. Shaw, 33, chose the flight out of Vancouver because it was direct and she didn`t want her children to have to navigate a layover alone, her attorney Minda Thorward, told CNN.

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On 22 July 2025, the Gauteng High Court dismissed Sitrusrand Boerdery`s review of the Department of Employment and Labour`s refusal to issue a Working Conditions and Salary Benchmarking Certificate, an essential precondition for obtaining corporate visas under the Immigration Act.

Acting Judge Kekana AJ held that the Department`s decision was lawful, rational and procedurally fair. This judgment illustrates how businesses can - and must - structure their corporate visa applications to meet statutory requirements, and how legal practitioners should prepare robust review challenges when administrative authorities decline to recommend foreign-work permits.

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The United States could forfeit an estimated 9.4 billion dollars in visitor spending over the next three years following the introduction of a new 250 dollars `visa integrity fee,` according to industry groups, who warn the policy risks undermining tourism and costing thousands of jobs.
The United States’ decision to introduce a 250 dollars `visa integrity fee` on international visitors has triggered sharp criticism from the global tourism industry, with officials warning that the measure could deter millions of travellers and cost the U.S. economy billions.
The 250dollar `visa integrity fee,` part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed on July 4, 2025, will take effect later this year. According to immigration law firm Envoy Global, it applies to all nonimmigrant visa holders which include students, tourists, temporary workers, and business visitors particularly from African countries. V.6132
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The Border Management Authority (BMA) has doubled its staff at Airports in South Africa , including immigration officers.

What does this mean for travelers? V.6127
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1. Right to Legal Representation•You have the right to consult with a legal representative.•Contact an immigration practitioner, legal aid clinic, or attorney urgently.•Do not sign any documents without understanding them fully. 2. Section 34 of the Immigration Act•You must be brought to court with 48 hours to confirm arrest but you can remain locked up very long as courts figure out what to do with you •If you`re found to be illegally in South Africa, you may be detained for up to 30 days (extendable by a magistrate) pending deportation.•BUT this cannot happen arbitrarily. You must be informed of your rights, and Home Affairs must follow due process.- becomes a nightmare , you could lose your job , business , place to stay V.6121
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Driving for Bolt, Uber, Mr D, or Checkers Sixty60?If you`re undocumented, you`re risking more than just your income.The Risks if You`re Not Legal: - Vehicle impoundment - Heavy fines - Arrest & deportation - Permanent bans from working in SA V.6122
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