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Business Leadership SA says visa systems could affect economy

Source: News24, 11/04/2023

Business Leadership South Africa believes our country’s visa application systems need a major overhaul in order to attract investment.
Cape Town - Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA) has issued a warning that the current visa application systems in the country could stifle the economy.
This comes after BLSA CEO Busi Mavuso said they had been working hard with government to fix South Africa’s current visa regime.
Mavuso said they felt like they are making very little progress, because some 56 000 foreigners working or intending to work in South Africa were facing having their visas cancelled at the end of March, purely because Home Affairs has been unable to process their applications.
“They were given a last-minute reprieve two days before the deadline, extending the validity of their existing status until the end of the year.
“This is appalling and people’s lives are thrown into turmoil, unable to know whether they would be allowed to stay in the country many consider home.
“It presents an impossible situation for business. While as a country we profess to welcome businesses from around the world to invest and station their regional activities in South Africa, for company executives from Paris to Mumbai, the uncertainty created by the administrative chaos is a massive turn-off.
“If a company is considering the location of their regional headquarters, how does South Africa compare to competitors such as Dubai?` Mavuso asked.
She further argues that the last minute reprieve is of little use to thousands more around the world who have been waiting for visa applications to be processed, and similarly caught up in Home Affairs’ dysfunction.
“This uncertainty creates upheaval in people’s lives. A senior executive looking to set up in South Africa may need to move his or her family, requiring timing that fits the education calendar.
“So, it is not just the challenge of being stuck in Houston or Tokyo when you are meant to be setting up a new operation in South Africa, it is the ripple effects on families who cannot plan,” Mavuso said.
Mavuso further said visa administration problems are well recognised as a serious impediment to our economy and there is a major skills deficits in many areas, including the technical skills needed to build, and maintain factories, water infrastructure and power plants.
`We need to give international companies the sense that they are welcome in SA and the confidence to plan on investments here, without the fear that they will simply be unable to send their people because we cannot manage our own bureaucracy.
“If we are to be a welcoming destination for skilled professionals, we need to welcome their families, too. They must be able to send their kids to schools where they will be able to further their home curricula.
“They should be comfortable that they will have access to healthcare and safe and secure housing. They need an ecosystem that is attractive. And that can mean welcoming in support staff, too, who are able to teach the language and curriculum of home or provide other key services,” she added.
Mavuso also said the challenges we still face on the visa front are despite some good and productive work done by Operation Vulindlela (OV) in the Presidency, and fixing the visa regime is a priority focus for OV, and there has been progress in revising the scarce skills list and getting eVisas to work for tourists from certain markets.
Mavuso alluded that there have also been interventions by Invest SA, which does excellent work to promote SA as an investment destination and unlock problems that potential investors encounter.
“Those interventions to accelerate visa processing have been key to concluding some large deals. But while such ad hoc support is important, it is no substitute for an efficient and effective visa regime that gives confidence to foreigners that they can plan and rely on the state to deliver on its own policies,” Mavuso said
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