SA looking abroad for skills it doesn't currently have – Ramaphosa

President Cyril Ramaphosa stated on Monday that with South Africa becoming an “increasingly attractive destination” for business process outsourcing and customer experience, attracting more skilled workers will be important. Last week, the Department of Home Affairs published for public comment draft amendments to existing immigration regulations that aims to significantly boost efforts to attract workers with critical skills to South Africa. The draft amendments deal with two visa categories: a remote working visa and the critical skills visa. Ramaphosa wrote in his weekly letter to the nation that in line with the country’s ongoing efforts to attract higher levels of investment and promote job creation, the new work visa regulations were a milestone. He said that the visa regulations were part of high-impact structural reforms government was undertaking to improve the business operating environment. Ramaphosa explained that the introduction of a remote working visa responded to the rapidly evolving world of work, where increasing numbers of skilled workers, particularly those in the tech industry, were attracted by the lifestyle benefits of working from a remote location.