It is 572 days since President Cyril Ramaphosa first announced the government's intention to introduce a digital nomad visa (remote worker) in his February 2022 State of the Nation Address.
Yet the June 2023 deadline to introduce this visa has passed. And South Africa continues to lose out to competitor destinations tapping into this lucrative market.
According to the Western Cape Minister of Finance and Economic Opportunities in the Western Cape, Mireille Wenger, the Minister of Home Affairs, Aaron Motsoaledi, has confirmed in a letter to the Western Cape Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Opportunities and Tourism, that his department has missed its own deadline to introduce the visa in South Africa by the end of June this year.
Remote workers, or digital nomads, have jobs elsewhere in the world, and who because of remote working options, would prefer to conduct this work (and spend their foreign earnings) in other destinations.
“This means that introducing a remote Working visa is a clear win-win solution to boost long-stay tourism in the Western Cape and South Africa and is very much in line with South African Tourism’s drive to get tourists to stay longer.”
Wenger attended a workshop on Friday (July 21) convened by Minister of Tourism Patricia de Lille, where she emphasised the need to work together to grow tourism numbers.
“The remote working visa is an excellent way to achieve this,” said Wenger.
‘Unnecessary delay’
“The continued and unnecessary delay in introducing this visa means that South Africa and the Western Cape continue to lose digital nomads to competitor destinations, such as our neighbour Namibia, which has moved quickly and urgently to attract this new market.”
Wenger pointed out that while Motsoaledi attributed the delay to the need to amend the Immigration Act, the Western Cape Government’s constructive proposal to the Department of Home Affairs – first submitted in May 2021 and again in September 2022 – sets out clear recommendations that would enable the introduction of this visa within the existing legal framework, through amendments to the Immigration Act 13 of 2002 regulations – without needing to amend the Immigration Act.
“There is a clear proposal on how to swiftly introduce a remote work visa and the continued failure to introduce this visa category is costing our economy and compromising job creation, at a time when we should be doing all we can to grow and support sectors that have shown resilience and significant job-creating potential, such as tourism,” Wenger said.
‘Low-hanging fruit’ for govt
Other industry associations such as FEDHASA, the Tourism Business Council of South Africa, and SATSA have all been lobbying the government to address this, highlighting how the remote work visa could be easily implemented by following the best practices of other countries.
“Low-hanging fruit for the South African government which wants to foster tourism growth would be to follow the lead of other countries. It will then be up to the private sector market to provide a welcoming remote work environment through high-speed Internet access and contingencies for load shedding (power outages),” said SATSA CEO, David Frost in a recent interview with Tourism Update.
National FEDHASA Chair Rosemary Anderson said: “There are only positives in providing digital nomad visas. Not only will it help with the economic recovery of tourism businesses and the supply chain that feeds these, but it will also help to create jobs.”
She pointed out that countries with such visa policies were more attractive to hospitality investors.
“Countries already capitalising on this new market segment are seeing increased investment by hotel groups, either expanding their hotel facilities or building additional hotels. This is exactly what we need for South Africa.”
