A closer look at South Africa’s remote work visa as published on Business Day.
[An exrtract below]
SA’s “remote work visa”, as implemented by home affairs minister Leon Schreiber, strictly refers and applies to a demonstration of a “gross salary” and a foreign “contract of [remote] employment”. Many business entrepreneurs who enjoy dividend related incomes, and day traders who enjoy high net performances on their trades, for instance, would fail to meet the regulatory requirements of this visa.
A high income alone is not sufficient to qualify for the remote work visa as designed. In its initial format, the remote work visa has been mapped out only to encompass remote workers with a salary income that meets the minimum income threshold.
The recent remote work visa implementation adds significantly to SA’s immigration offering and has the potential to attract substantial numbers of digital nomads from developed countries with high income and welfare, placing SA at the continental forefront in the implementation of these policies, which have the potential to benefit the local economy and incentivise innovation.
However, the standard application of tax policies as envisioned in the third amendment of the immigration regulations may also detract from the strategic desirability positioning of SA in the global race to attract digital nomads.
[Read the Opinion in full on BD]
by Claudia Pizzocri | CEO at Eisenberg & Associates Inc.