South Africa\u2019s plan to attract more professionals to its skills-starved economy through the introduction of a so-called nomad visa for remote workers has been slowed by the need to amend tax regulations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The impediment comes after an initial delay when changes to the visa regime had to be temporarily withdrawn because mandatory public consultation procedures had not been followed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
President Cyril Ramaphosa announced his intention to introduce a remote-working visa in his 2022 state-of-the-nation\u00a0address<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere is just a tax-related matter that needs to be addressed in the regulations,\u201d Leon Schreiber, the country\u2019s Home Affairs Minister, said in a response to queries. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOnce that is done, the department will commence with the rollout.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n South Africa\u2019s byzantine work permit regime, which means that securing a work permit can take well over a year, has been flagged as a hurdle to economic growth by both the presidency and the country\u2019s main business organizations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Still, a backlog of more than 300,000 applications for all kinds of residence permits has been halved since a new cabinet was announced on June 30 after the formation of a coalition government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Home Affairs ministry initially proposed allowing people employed and paid by companies elsewhere to live in the country for as long as six months a year without paying tax, as long as they earned at least 1 R1 million ($56,490) annually.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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