IMPENDING AMENDMENTS TO THE IMMIGRATION ACT AND REGULATIONS

Source: Samigration, 04/03/2019

The White Paper on Home Affairs is part of a Parliamentary process
to reformulate Immigration policy for the Republic of South
Africa.
The document therefore only deals with Policy issues so as to
create a platform for short to medium term planning within the
Visa sphere.
It therefore deals with technical issues surrounding the vision
and scope of the Department of Home Affairs and it will be
interesting to see what type of inputs are made by stakeholders in
this regard. We will then update this aspect in a later
newsletter.
Important to also note that formulated Immigration Policy dictates
the basis, in many ways, for reformulated Immigration Law and
Regulation.
The indications are, as per media statements last year 2018, that
there will be changes to the Immigration Act and Regulations
during the first portion of 2019. At this stage it is impossible
to predict, save for what is stated hereunder, what those changes
will actually be.
One of the changes however, that has been announced in the Media
is that certain of the trades, professions and occupations listed
in the Critical Skills Visa list will be amended and supplemented
with an expected Gazetting of the aforesaid ostensibly during
April 2019.
Early indications, also based on Media information is that certain
categories of professions will be removed from the Critical Skills
Visa list with one of the first casualties to be that of Corporate
General Managers.
As soon as further detail becomes available we will do an updated
newsletter, in this regard.
It is welcome to note that certain categories have in fact been
listed to be deleted from the list and these include, inter alia,
Sheep Shearers and Jewellery Makers.
Word coming down the pipeline is that Maths and Science teachers
are to be reintegrated as a Critical Skills Profession and will be
re-introduced onto the list.
Bonang Mohale, chief executive of Business Leadership SA, an
association dealing with government and labour, said the draft was
“much shorter and restrictive”, removing some sectors like
architecture and reducing others like life and earth sciences.
“South Africa suffers from a gross skills shortage, so all of
these reductions are not helpful,” he said.
Lawyers say the draft table of required expertise excludes key
skills South Africa lacks, including corporate general managers
and artificial intelligence engineers.
“This is the first time we will have a revised critical skills
list since 2014 and we don’t know how they came up with this list
and who they consulted with,” immigration lawyer Stefanie de
Saude-Darbandi told Reuters.
Substantial cost
“This list could be implemented as early as April, potentially
affecting thousands of foreigners in country.”
Appealing against visa rejections in court could take years, at
substantial cost to applicants and families, she said.
The Department of Home Affairs, which overseas immigration, said
consultations continue. Acting director general Thulani Mavuso
said some economic sectors wanted certain skills included in the
list while others argued “we have these skills in abundance and
you are depriving SouthAfricans of jobs”.
Mavuso said the draft list should be finalised by April before
taking effect immediately once signed by the minister.
Apply Now !! and don’t be disappointed

www.samigration.com