Skilled Immigration in South Africa: An input into the Operation Vulindlela review of Critical Skills and General Work visas

Currently, the process of obtaining Critical Skills Visas and General Work Visas is perceived to be lengthy, onerous and ineffective at solving short-term skills shortages. The administrative process represents a significant barrier to entry. A consequence identified in the Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan (ERRP) is that the growth of multiple economic sectors is constrained by insufficient skills (Republic of South Africa, 2020). This is further exacerbated by skilled emigration and competition for scarce skills between countries. Operation Vulindlela has engaged with the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) in order to undertake a comprehensive review of the regulatory framework and processes for the Critical Skills and General Work visas in order to improve the efficiency of the policy framework and processes. Within the context of this review, this paper considers a number of issues related to the need for high skilled immigrant labour to be imported into the country against a backdrop of hhigh unemployment. Specifically, this paper considers the following as inputs into the broader work being done by Operation Vulindlela: Evidence of the benefits associated with skilled immigration in countries; An analysis of firm experiences with the visa application process using responses from a survey of firms; A review of the operational and structural inefficiencies within the current visa application processes in South Africa, taking into consideration the nature of unemployment in South Africa and the role of Employment Services of South Africa (ESSA) data and the Critical Skills List in skilled immigration visa application assessments.