Minister launches plan for foreign students

Source: iol.com, 05/05/2016

Minister launches plan for foreign students
23 April 2016 : iol.com
Cape Town - Foreign students graduating from South African
universities in critical skills areas will soon qualify for permanent
residence permits, so their talents can be retained, Home Affairs
Minister Malusi Gigaba has announced.
"International students constitute a key segment which is prioritised
by governments globally, because of the economic and social benefits
they offer host countries in terms of adding to the skills base and
contributing positively to society more broadly," Gigaba said during
his budget vote speech in Parliament on Friday.
He would formally launch the special exemption in the coming weeks to
make sure the country benefited from all the skills produced by its
universities.
Turning to the controversy over onerous visa regulations which many
tourism operators blamed for a drop in visits last year, Gigaba gave
an update on implementation of the revised measures agreed after
differences between himself and Tourism Minister Derek Hanekom were
ironed out.
The department had processed visits of 16.1 million foreign nationals
in 2015/16 and arrivals in January had increased by 15 percent
year-on-year.
It had also issued 4 424 critical skills visas last year, 80 percent
finalised within the target turnaround time of eight weeks.
"This year, to further support tourism and inward investment, we will
open two premium business visa facilitation centres in Port Elizabeth
and Durban, with a third likely to be opened in Cape Town," Gigaba said.
He made a pitch for a bigger budget in the next financial year, saying
a "modern, secure Home Affairs" would need more funds and he would
present a business case to the cabinet for approval before the end of
the year. The department was modernising its systems so that,
ultimately, documents could be applied for and collected without the
need for a visit to a Home Affairs office.
"There will be opportunities for Home Affairs to generate new revenue
streams, and hence the overall impact of this re-alignment on the
fiscus should be positive," Gigaba said.