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Despite South Africa’s urgent need for investment, innovation and economic growth, applications for the very visa categories most closely linked to these objectives, including critical skills and business visas, remain strikingly low.
According to the approved White Paper on Citizenship, Immigration and Refugee Protection (CIRP), Critical Skills Visa applications accounted for only 5% of all visa applications received by the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) between April 2021 and March 2025, while business visas accounted for less than 1%.
Over this four-year period, the DHA received only 12,944 Critical Skills Visa applications and 435 business visa applications, compared to more than 122,000 relatives’ visa applications for spouses, children and other family members— representing 28% of all applications received.
In the White Paper Government acknowledges that the current immigration framework is not attracting sufficient levels of the highly skilled migrants and investors required to support South Africa’s economic ambitions. As a result, the White Paper aims to reposition the citizenship and immigration system as an economic enabler by attracting foreign investment, critical skills and globally mobile talent.
Marisa Jacobs, Managing Director at Xpatweb, says central to achieving this objective is South Africa’s National Critical Skills List, as it plays a crucial rolein addressing the country’s skills shortages by informing education and training policies as well as labour migration policies.
South Africa Wants Global Talent, But Is the Critical Skills List Keeping Up?
Once an occupation is included on the Critical Skills List, the Critical Skills Work visa applicant automatically earns the points required in terms of the immigration points-based system, fast-tracking processing of applications.
Jacobs notes that as one of South Africa’s most important tools for attracting global talent, the List must accurately reflect the skills business and industry require, but struggle to source from the local labour market.
Ensuring the List is informed by the best available data is therefore critical. With the List currently being updated, Xpatweb’s 2026 Critical Skills Surveynow open, offers employers a unique opportunity to directly influence which skills the country prioritises, and ultimately, which talent South Africa can attract, she explains.
South Africa’s Skills Shortage Needs More Than Policy, It Needs Employer Input
The survey is the country’s leading source of employer-verified insight. South African employers share real-world experiences about hard-to-fill roles, the impact shortages have on operations and how immigration policy can address these gaps.
Annually the results are shared with Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) and DHA to help inform the Critical Skills List. Although the List has seen interim updates over the past few years, a new list is imminent, and business input will guide policy and help South Africa stay competitive in the global race for talent, Jacobs emphasises.
The 2025 Critical Skills Survey saw wide participation from 381 respondents, including JSE listed companies, multinational employers and companies forming part of the Trusted Employer Scheme.
The findings revealed that 84% of major corporations and multinational employers operating in South Africa experience difficulties sourcing highly skilled talent, which is higher than the 79% in the previous year, Jacobs says.
Engineering, ICT, financial services, artisans and foreign language capabilities remained among the most difficult skills categories to source locally.
Worldwide employers are reporting growing shortages in areas such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), machine learning, cybersecurity, cloud computing, advanced manufacturing, and green economy technologies. In addition, shortages are evident across financial services, aviation, infrastructure and manufacturing sectors, and seasonal and agricultural industries in several markets.
The 2026 findings will once again be submitted to key government stakeholders to support evidence-based immigration and economic policy decisions.
The Risk of Not Keeping Pace
Several factors contribute to the growing number of scarce skills internationally, including AI transformation resulting in jobs changing faster than workers can reskill; older skilled workers retiring in large numbers; skills emigrating; and remote work with top talent who can now work anywhere and increasing competition worldwide.
Governments, economists and institutions are all warning that the global shortage of critical skills has moved from a hiring problem to a one of the greatest constraints on economic growth.
The World Employment Confederation quotes Korn Ferry that by 2030 the world could face a shortage of more than 85 million skilled workers, potentially resulting in US$8.5 trillion in unrealised annual revenue.[1]Meanwhile, ManpowerGroup’s 2026 Global Talent Shortage Survey found that more than 70% of employers globally struggle to source the skilled workers they require.[2]
South Africa is not immune from these pressures.
In a highly competitive global environment, countries that fail to adapt quickly may lose critical talent to more responsive jurisdictions.
Raking in the Benefits
Participation in the Xpatweb 2026 Critical Skills Survey will help ensure that current industry challenges and talent shortages are accurately reflected in future policy discussions, that priority occupations are identified based on genuine market demand, and that South Africa remains positioned to attract and retain the international talent required to support economic growth.
As pressure on the global talent market shows no signs of letting up, timely and accurate employer input has become even more important. Jacobs reiterates that businesses are often operating in a “race against time” when attempting to source highly specialised employees.
The Survey therefore provides employers with a meaningful opportunity to shape a Critical Skills List that reflects the practical realities facing business and the evolving needs of the South African economy.
