South Africa: Guidelines for Points for General Work Visa and Critical Skills Work Visa Criteria Published

• Eligibility for either visa. Under the published criteria, applicants must score a total of 100 points to qualify for either visa (though the criteria and points differ as indicated below) and must submit a valid police clearance and medical report, among other documentary requirements.
• Critical Skills Work Visa eligibility. Applicants for a Critical Skills Work Visa must score at least 100 points by having an occupation listed on the critical skills list. Those who do not qualify can apply for a General Work Visa.
• General Work Visa eligibility. Applicants for a General Work Visa must score at least 100 points under the following criteria:

Companies intending to hire foreign nationals under a General Work Visa or Critical Skills Work Visa will benefit from streamlined and more transparent work visa processing and reduced administrative requirements (i.e., a letter from the Department of Labour is no longer required for either category). The system is also expected to reduce processing times for both visa types.

The new points criteria under the Critical Skills Work Visa is expected to boost the South African economy by attracting critical talent required in technology, healthcare and engineering, among other sectors important to the development of the economy. Moreover, this streamlined process will make it simpler for companies to hire workers to fill these in-demand highly skilled positions.

• Previous work visa regime. The previous process involved extensive and strict documentation requirements for each visa, including difficult-to-obtain documents like a letter from the Department of Labour and proof of membership to an accredited professional body. Additionally, the processing times were long (up to an estimated six to nine months). An average of 52% of all Critical Skills Visa and General Work Visa applications were rejected between 2014 and 2021 under the previous work visa regime due to missing or outdated documents, which ultimately led to an extensive visa adjudication process. This resulted in companies' inability to recruit qualified professionals on a timely basis.
• History of adoption of points-based system. The Department of Home Affairs published the regulations on the new points-based system in May 2024 after the draft amendments were withdrawn because the public comment process was not completed before the regulations were implemented, and details around the regulations were not clear when they were published.
• Points-based systems in immigration landscape. Points-based immigration systems have long been a key strategy for managing economic migration worldwide by offering a transparent and merit-based approach to selecting foreign workers. Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Singapore are among the countries that utilize such systems.

It is anticipated that these reduced administrative requirements and streamlined processing steps will attract skilled foreign nationals and investment to South Africa.