Immigration South Africa - Julian Pokroy Immigration Law Attorneys

THE MINISTER OF HOME AFFAIRS ANNOUNCES NEW QUOTA CATEGORIES EFFECTIVE FROM THE 26TH APRIL 2008

In terms of Section 19(1) of the Immigration Act number 13 of 2002 this special category or work permit was created when the Immigration Act came into operation in April 2003.

In terms of Section 19(1) of the Act the Minister of Home Affairs is obliged to consult on an annual basis with the Departments of Trade and Industry and Labour and Education in order to formulate what has become known as the National Critical Skills List.

This Quota List spells out specific professional categories and specific occupational classes which are, by their very nature, required urgently in South Africa.

The Quota List specifies the specific occupational class or category, on the one hand, then spells out the need for professional registration in that category (where applicable) and then couples this to a numerical quota for that category.

Applications for work permits in this category are then dealt with in a different manner to other types of work permits.

Firstly a prospective employer need not advertise for the position in the national printed media in order to attract South African citizens or residents as this is accepted as a given in view of the fact that these skills listed are in the Critical Skills List.

Secondly, the prospective employer does need also not show what other steps it has taken to secure the services of a South African national.

Documentary requirements in this category remain the same in respect of all other regulatory documents that are listed in the Immigration Act and its Regulations.

If you would like to view the latest Quota Category Schedule then click here.

All qualifications obtained by an applicant outside of South Africa must be evaluated by the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA).

The National Critical Skills List looks very much the same as prior lists save for the fact that it now includes once again the category of Information and Communication Technology groupings under the heading “Network and Support Professionals”.

Please note that in each instance and in respect of each category five years of relevant post qualification experience is required.

If you would like to have your application evaluated or in the case of an employer the merits of an applicant assessed then feel free to make use of our free assessment by completing the questionnaire on our website at www.immigration.org.za and submitting this for assessment.

Our office can be of assistance with SAQA evaluation of qualifications and invite you to contact our office in order to find out more.

BACKLOG IN PERMANENT RESIDENCE APPLICATIONS

The backlog in respect of permanent residence applications still sitting at the Department of Home Affairs Head Office is currently running at somewhere between one to three years and in some cases even longer.

The problem relating to this backlog was precipitated when the Minister of Home Affairs withdrew the delegated powers to the regional offices and embassies to finalise permanent residence applications through the regional office of the Department of Home Affairs and centralized this function into Head Office of the department without first capacitating Head Office of the Department of Home Affairs from a human resource perspective.

Every effort is being made to bring permanent residence applications to finality but the reality of the matter is that these applications are taking an excessively long time.

PROCESSING OF WORK PERMITS

The processing of work permits through the various regional offices of the Department of Home Affairs is taking varying times to finalise.

The average processing time at the current pace is somewhere between four and six weeks although certain regional offices of the Department are taking longer to process extensions and first time applications.

PROGRESS WITH THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE IMMIGRATION AMENDMENT ACT OF 2007 (ACT 3 OF 2007) AND THE NEW IMMIGRATION REGULATIONS

The Immigration Amendment Act number 3 of 2007 was signed into law by the President Thabo Mbeki at the end of June 2007 but cannot come into operation until such time as the Regulations which it enables have been finalised.

In terms of the Immigration Act the Immigration Advisory Board must first be consulted before the Immigration Regulations can be finalised by the Minister of Home Affairs.

To the best of our knowledge the Immigration Advisory Board has not met recently in order to consider this Draft Regulations and at this stage it is unknown as to when this process will be finalised.

One of the areas of concern is that the 2004 amendment to the Immigration Act which came into operation on the 1st July 2005 cut short the intra company transfer work permit category in terms of its duration, down to two years and made this category or work permit non extendable.

This is not in line with international best practice in terms of deployments on intra company transfers which dictate a five year deployment cycle.

There was an uproar from organised business, the foreign Chamber of Commerce in South Africa and representations were also made by the Law Society of South Africa’s immigration and refugee law committee to the Minister of Home Affairs to consider the situation. One of the results of these representations was the promulgation of the Immigration Amendment Act number 3 of 2007 which extends the intra company transfer work permit to four years but remains firm in the non extendibility thereof.

Please note that this amendment is the amendment that is being dealt with under this heading has not yet come into operation and will not come into operation until the new Immigration Regulations are finalised.

If you have any queries relating to the above then feel free to contact our office.

If your company has a person on an intra company transfer that is coming to an end and wishes to retain that person in South Africa then our office can be of assistance in bringing an application for a change of status of that individual to that of a general or other work permit as this is possible in terms of the Immigration legislation.

Should you have any enquiries relating to any of the above then feel free to contact our office or e-mail us on enquiries@immigration.org.za.

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