The Inclusive Society Institute and a delegation of foreign direct investors met with the Minister of Home Affairs, Hon. Aaron Motsoaledi MP, on Thursday, 23 June 2022. The objective of the engagement was to share concerns and identify areas of improving the immigration laws to build an investment friendly environment.
Amongst the issues raised were:
Problems created for business continuity when business owners who have taken out South African citizenship have to renounce such citizenship when they returned to their birth countries. For example, when they decide to retire and family members, who need to take over, do not have permanent residence;
Covid induced complications, for example, inter-company transfers resulting in technical expertise needing to return to home countries without replacements being sent; and
Covid restrictions that made it impossible for some permanent residents to comply with the requirement for them to spend at least six-months in South Africa, which has resulted in a number of such permanent residencies to be cancelled.
The meeting was held in a constructive spirit and since government was committed to providing an investment friendly visa regime, they would consider case-for-case and broader proposals that would improve the visa regime.
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