The Department of Home Affairs (DHA) was represented by the Acting Chief Director: Permits, Mr. Phindiwe Mbhele. Many attendees commented that he presented exceptionally and he demonstrated a level of frankness on the challenges the DHA was experiencing, and also shared some of the plans of the DHA to eradicate the delays encountered by employers. This specifically refers to companies and international individuals who are applying for general work visas, intra-company transfer work visas, critical skills work visas, corporate visas, business visas and permanent residency applications.
Marisa Jacobs, the Managing Director of Xpatweb, dealt with the challenges, latest changes to immigration law and practices, as well as the current leading practices in managing work visas for international employees and business professionals. She noted that the only way to ensure any sort of promise can be made to a business for a timely issued visa/permit, is by following a legal escalation process with timeframes. The days are past where it can be expected of a normal human resource function to get correctly and timeously issued visas for a business. The current application process followed by Xpatweb allows for the smooth transition to a legal escalatory process in the event that the application is not finalized timeously. She also explained that the Xpatweb team is increasingly capacitated with attorneys and advocates specialising in immigration in order to deal with the challenges experienced by individuals and corporates alike when applying for a visa or permanent residence permit.
The following 2 (two) disparities arose from the presentations of Mr. Mbhele and Ms. Jacobs, which treated the attendees to an interesting debate facilitated by Jeremy Maggs –
Everyone attending the Global Mobility Breakfast agreed that the demand for international employees is increasing in order to address the skills gap that exists to ensure South Africa remains globally competitive. The annual Xpatweb Critical Skills Survey is expected to be finalised in October 2023 , and any employer with foreign employees or the need for potential foreign employees should consider participating in the survey, which is used by government to inform their decision making.
With Aubrey Masango on Radio 702, Tuesday 12 September 2023 at 21:07.
With Africa Melane on Radio 702 & Cape Talk, Tuesday 19 September 2023 at 04:50.
The Isle of Man hosts 800 South Africans – boasting as popular relocation... 