While many employers embrace remote work, there are special considerations to make the lifestyle work. Here’s what you need to know.
For many people, it seems like a dream world: never having to go to an office while traveling the world. That’s certainly one way to be a digital nomad, but everyone has different desires for transitioning to a location-independent lifestyle. Digital nomads work hard just like anybody else, but they’ve forgone a permanent location.

There are plenty of advantages to becoming a digital nomad, but a good amount of preparation is key before you can work remotely. Here’s what you need to know:
• What is a digital nomad?
• Preparing for the location-independent life
• How to work remotely as a digital nomad
o Tips for working as a digital nomad
• Becoming an entrepreneurial digital nomad
• Picking a destination

World Nomads
Want to travel and work abroad? Before you jet off, it’s important to take out the right travel insurance to cover you along the way. World Nomads offers simple and flexible travel insurance that you can buy at home or on the road. They also offer great advice to help you travel more confidently.

What is a digital nomad?
A digital nomad integrates work into a travel-oriented lifestyle. Articles that praise the virtues of remote work usually write about people who stay in the same place. They’re thinking of distributed teams, where team members are not located in the same place but, in general, don’t move around a whole lot.
Teams with remote workers have plenty of benefits already: parents can work from home to look after the kids, or maybe someone with a lengthy commute can replace those two hours on the train with two hours of focus at home.
Digital nomads, though, take this one step further by traveling to different places year-round. Plenty of digital nomads don’t even have what they would consider a ‘home’ (except in the legal sense for their taxes), all while earning a living.

When most people think of a digital nomad, they picture the stock photo version of remote work. This is usually someone smiling while looking at their pristine laptop, sipping their cappuccino next to an idyllic beach. The reality, obviously, differs.
It’s certainly possible to be a digital nomad in a remote location. Personal Wi-Fi hotspots are now fairly affordable and offer connectivity over 3G/4G in any area within reach of a cell tower.
On the other hand, many digital nomads choose to work in cities, where an abundance of cafés and co-working spaces house remote workers every day.

Preparing for the location-independent life
Many prospective digital nomads underestimate the most important step: reducing their dependence on material things. Being a digital nomad means packing up your belongings, moving to the next city, and easily starting work again. Working remotely means true independence from a specific place.
This seems a little difficult at first when you start brainstorming all of the things you use daily. What do you do about your computer, monitor, filing system, or chair? Becoming a digital nomad is the perfect time to channel your inner Marie Kondo; thank your bulkier possessions for their service, find them a new home, and downsize everything.

There are also administrative factors that you need to organize. These include a robust expat health insurance plan or an international banking workflow that facilitates your lifestyle. Aim for plans that maximize flexibility and portability.
When it comes to health insurance, get a plan that you can change depending on where your travels take you. As for banking, find an option that allows multiple currency accounts and low international transfer fees. These ensure you aren’t bleeding cash with each transaction.
How to work remotely as a digital nomad
If you’re currently employed and think you could work remotely, run it by your employer. If your boss still thinks of remote work as a foreign concept, suggest easing into it. Encourage management to look into allowing team members to work from home a couple of days per week. That way, you wouldn’t be seen as on the receiving end of preferential treatment, and the entire team can benefit from the added flexibility.

If your employer is receptive to the idea of remote work, stress the tangible benefits that it provides. If being in the same office every day drags you down, emphasize how the quality of your work will improve if you can do it from abroad.
Becoming a digital nomad as an employee is primarily about trust that you’ll get the job done; old-school management types want assurance that they’ll see net benefits in incorporating remote work.

Tips for working as a digital nomad
Make sure you’re not carting too much around with you. Thankfully, most items either have more compact versions (e.g., a laptop and portable external monitor) or aren’t actually necessary (most countries have chairs, after all).
Trade out items whenever you acquire something new. If you buy a new shirt, get rid of an old one. Choose compact, multi-use items. Limit the amount of gadgets you bring with you; streaming services and voice-call apps turn your devices into movie theaters and conference rooms. Avoid buying anything you don’t truly need.

For many digital nomads, working at a startup is their first chance to get their work done without having to be chained to their desks all the time. Younger companies tend to have fresher ideas when it comes to how they manage their workflow. As a result, these companies probably already use the kinds of tools and applications (like Slack and Trello) that facilitate communication and project management without the need for in-person interaction.
Jobs for remote workers are a dime a dozen. Although this trend was initially common in software development, firms are increasingly capitalizing on the advantages offered by a distributed team.

Becoming an entrepreneurial digital nomad
Those of a bolder disposition might want to consider becoming an entrepreneur abroad. Countries all over the world are making it easier than ever to apply for an entrepreneur visa. Historically, entrepreneurial visas required high levels of capital investment that were difficult for younger entrepreneurs to attain. Now, countries are nearly tripping over themselves to win over attractive business opportunities from abroad.

Some countries are taking even more initiative to facilitate the world’s entrepreneurs. Estonia, in particular, has an e-residency program that helps foreigners give their digital businesses a home in the legal sense.
Setting up an e-residency (or another country’s equivalent) offers yet more flexibility, as the business owner’s physical presence isn’t necessary. If the only reason you need to travel to your business’s home country is to meet with your tax advisor. That leaves the vast majority of the year to pitch your tent wherever you prefer.

Picking a destination
How often you travel depends entirely on your work needs and your travel style. There might be some practical concerns at play. Maybe you’ll need to return to your office occasionally or go to the country where you pay taxes. As a digital nomad, you’ll stay in any given city for a few weeks or months. It all depends on the visa regulations of the country you want to enter.
Everyone’s preferences differ. Some want the tropical climates of Jeju or Bali, while others want an affordable urban experience in Tbilisi or Kyiv. As long as there’s a decent Internet connection and you can legally enter the country for a reasonable amount of time, you can go anywhere that piques your interest. Keep in mind that entering on a tourist visa usually limits you to a three-month stay.
Websites such as Nomad List have an extensive database of cities and countries, complete with data on Internet speed, visa regulations, and rental housing prices.

Finding a place to stay as a digital nomad is easier than ever before. If you’re looking at countries with a lower cost of living, you’ll probably find better value in the homes available on Airbnb. Finding a flat the old-fashioned way might be costly or just a huge headache.
In the more well-established digital nomad hotspots, you’ll find plenty of co-living spaces. While the cost of entry for co-living is high, you’ll get a chance to live in a shared, serviced accommodation with areas to work all under the same roof.
How can we help you , please email us to info@samigration.com or whatsapp message me on: +27 82 373 8415, where are you now? check our website : www.samigration.com

The short answer
Unfortunately not. UNHCR says that refugees are identified for Resettlement based on their protection needs.

The long answer
Unfortunately, a refugee cannot apply for Resettlement. Cases for Resettlement are identified by the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) through information they gather from different channels.

It is the Resettlement Countries that decide each year how many refugees they will resettle among the millions of refugees in the world, and UNHCR has to work within these limits.

UNHCR says that there is no automatic right to Resettlement after a refugee has spent a certain number of years as a refugee.
Though UNHCR processes the cases and submits the recommendation for Resettlement to the Resettlement countries, it is the Resettlement countries, not the UNHCR, that make the final decision about the resettlement of a refugee.

Only if you are interviewed by a UNHCR resettlement staff member and told that you are invited to a Resettlement Interview will you know that you are being considered for Resettlement and the whole process will be explained to you. If, after the Resettlement Interview, your case is positively assessed and meets the criteria, it will be submitted to the Resettlement Country and you will be notified.

UNHCR will tell you if and when your case is submitted to a Resettlement Country. If you haven’t heard from UNHCR three months after your Resettlement Interview, you can ask what is happening through the UNHCR Helpline at 0800 100 030, Monday to Thursday from 9am to 4pm and Friday from 9am to 1 pm. If the Helpline operator cannot answer your query, you will be included in the queue for Resettlement Counselling with the team.

But UNHCR warns that after the case has been submitted, the Resettlement process can take months, or even years.
UNHCR does not tolerate corruption of any sort and they say that any attempt by a refugee to commit fraud of any kind may result in that refugee being permanently disqualified from Resettlement

How can we help you , please email us to info@samigration.com or whatsapp message me on: +27 82 373 8415, where are you now? check our website : www.samigration.com

Applying for critical skills work visa in South Africa as an artisan has been a challenge for the longest time. In 2014 when the current amendments to the Immigration Act were gazetted several gaps were identified in the Act which included the absence of a SAQA accredited professional body to register artisans.

ECSA was not an option due to their minimum NQF criteria of 5 which was a notch above the rating being given by SAQA for artisans. There was a time letters issued by the National Artisan Moderation Body, (NAMB), were sufficient and then they were not. There was a time when registration with the South African Institute of Draughting was good enough and then it wasn’t. The latest dispensation saw applications being rejected because Home Affairs required a South African trade test. This of course is absurd for two reasons; the artisan is already trade tested and secondly a South African trade test requires a minimum experience in South Africa.

This inconsistency was a direct result of the absence of a key legislative instrument, namely the National Register of Artisans. In terms section 26C of the Skills Development Act 97 of 1998 as amended, the Minister of Higher Education is required to establish a register of artisans. This register unfortunately could not be implemented as the regulations were not yet in place to establish this register, therefore the NAMB letters were acceptable as they pointed to the absence of the National Register of Artisans. In the absence of a clear framework on how to recognise foreign artisans in the republic it meant that the
Department of Home Affairs was left to its own devices hence the constant changes in approach.
Fortunately, that gap has now been closed and a clear process of registering artisans is now in place. The National Register of Artisans Regulations was gazetted the 19th of March 2021 and provides a framework for the registration of all artisans, local and foreign. There 4 categories of artisans, Practising Artisans, Non – Practising, Foreign Practising and Foreign Non-Practising Artisans. Under regulation 3 it is mandatory for all artisans to register with the
Department of Higher Educations National Artisan Development Support Centre (NADSC).
The registration requirements for foreign National Practising Artisans are the following, a certified passport copy, evidence of legal visa for entrance into the country, certified copy of trade test whether conducted locally or abroad, SAQA evaluation of foreign trade test, proof of address and proof of previous registration for a renewal.

Importantly regulation 6 has some consequences for visa applications by artisans. 6.5 Provides that all foreign national artisans must register with DHET before applying for critical skills work visa or any work visa with DHA. 6.6 goes on to state that foreign national artisans will not be granted critical skills work by DHA if they are not registered with DHET. This means that as of 19th March 2021 it became impossible for an artisan to get a visa without first registering the NADSC

How can we help you , please email us to info@samigration.com or whatsapp message me on: +27 82 373 8415, where are you now? check our website : www.samigration.com

SA’s Home Affairs grants temporary relief to visa, ZEP holders
South Africa has extended the deadline for Zimbabwe Exemption Permit (ZEP) holders and other visa applicants whose documents expired at the end of March, citing delays in processing applications.
The new deadline, now set for 30 September, provides temporary relief for thousands of Zimbabweans who have been left in limbo as authorities work through a backlog of visa and permit applications.

Home Affairs Minister Dr Leon Schreiber announced the extension on Tuesday under Immigration Directive Number 4 of 2025. He acknowledged that despite efforts to clear outstanding applications, many remain unprocessed due to administrative delays.

“The Department of Home Affairs has been working to resolve the backlog in its visa and permitting system. However, many applications will not be ready for collection before the 31 March deadline due to delays in printing and processing,” Schreiber said.

The decision is particularly significant for Zimbabweans on the ZEP, a special dispensation permit that has been in place since 2009. Originally introduced as the Dispensation of Zimbabweans Project (DZP), it was later restructured into the Zimbabwe Special Permit (ZSP) in 2014 and the current ZEP in 2017.

The ZEP has provided a legal pathway for Zimbabweans who moved to South Africa, but its future remains uncertain. The South African government has indicated plans to phase out exemption permits, urging Zimbabweans to apply for mainstream visas or consider returning home.
Around 178,000 Zimbabweans were eligible to apply for new exemption permits, which are set to expire at the end of November. However, processing delays have left many waiting for clarity on their legal status.

Under the latest directive, ZEP holders and other affected visa applicants will not be declared undesirable if they choose to leave South Africa before 30 September. Those awaiting the outcome of waiver applications can travel in and out of the country without penalty until then.

However, non-visa-exempt individuals with pending waiver applications must apply for a port of entry visa before re-entering South Africa. The directive also applies to long-term visa applicants but does not cover those awaiting permanent residence decisions.

Only foreign nationals who have legally entered South Africa and submitted their applications via VFS Global, with verifiable proof of submission, will qualify for this concession.

Parts of the Refugees Act and its regulations that allowed for Home Affairs to "filter" asylum seekers who do not have valid transit visas, have been declared unconstitutional.
• The Western Cape High Court agreed with the Scalabrini Centre that this put asylum seekers at risk of being sent back to their home countries, where they could face persecution.
• The matter will now go to the Constitutional Court for confirmation.

The Western Cape High Court has struck down sections of the Refugees Act which allowed for the deportation of asylum seekers even before they could access the asylum system.
But the court declined to issue a temporary interdict preventing the deportation of affected people, saying that until the Constitutional Court considers the matter, asylum seekers will have to individually approach courts if they believe they have been unlawfully shut out of the system.

The matter was taken to court by the Scalabrini Centre in Cape Town. It argued that amendments to the act and regulations, which took effect from January 2020, put refugees at risk of persecution because they could be returned to their countries of origin without having their asylum applications even considered.
The amendments allowed for asylum seekers who have entered the country unlawfully and do not have a valid asylum transit visa, to be denied full access to the asylum system after an initial "filtering" interview with an immigration officer. Scalabrini wanted the court to declare this unconstitutional.

These officers had the "sole discretion" to determine this unless they were presented with "compelling reasons" to decide otherwise, Scalaibrini argued.
This was the second part of Scalabrini's court case. In the first part, in August 2024, Scalabrini secured an interim interdict stopping the deportation of asylum seekers. The second part, its main application to have the sections of the act declared unconstitutional, was heard in February in the Western Cape High
Court before Judges Judith Cloete, Lister Nuku and Acting Judge Shami Kholong.

During that hearing it emerged that since the granting of the interdict, the Department of Home Affairs had effectively shut off access to the asylum system for new applicants. But arrests of people who wanted to seek asylum but who did not have valid visas continued, filling up prisons with asylum seekers.
Writing for the court, Judge Judith Cloete said while in the initial interdict application, the applicant had relied on specific instances of how certain refugees had been treated, it was now relying on "an abstract constitutional challenge".
"As we understand it, the crux of the applicant's complaint is that if a foreign national is not in possession of a valid five-day asylum transit visa (whether due to illegal border crossing or it having lapsed), and that foreign national cannot persuade an immigration officer that he or she has valid reasons for this, then he or she will not get to the next stage at all.

"In other words, so the applicants say, given the overarching principle of non-refoulement, it should not be incumbent on such an individual to satisfy a bureaucratic official of the 'valid reasons' requirement in order to exercise the rights of an asylum seeker," Judge Cloete said.
Non-refoulement is a principle in international law that prohibits governments from sending or "refouling" people back to countries where they face persecution or danger.

The government respondents, including the Minister and Director-General of Home Affairs, argued against Scalabrini's interpretation. They claimed that rather than depriving foreigners unlawfully in the country of their rights, the provisions created a "safety valve" so that such people are not shut out as long as they can show valid and compelling reasons.

But Scalabrini argued that it was the process that was the problem and that requiring people to undergo the so-called "safety valve" exercise before they are able to formally access the asylum system, after which they could be arrested and deported, violated the principle of non-refoulement.
It was not a safety valve, but a "threshold", Scalabrini argued.

Judge Cloete said that according to the plain wording of the law, immigration officers are required to "ascertain whether valid reasons exist" as to why an applicant is not in possession of the transit visa.

Cloete said it is undeniable "that a determination of this nature which is unfavourable to an illegal foreigner may result, without more, in deportation. This defeats the very purpose of the non-refoulement principle enshrined in the Act. It also falls foul of international law. "
She said the regulation's guidance on "compelling reasons" for not having a valid visa included hospitalisation, institutionalisation or any other compelling reasons but did not include that the person concerned may be persecuted if sent back to their home country.

This was contrary to the multiple international treaties that South Africa had ratified since democracy.
The Helen Suzman Foundation (HSF), which had been admitted along with other human rights organisations as friends of the court, had correctly argued that the effect of the provisions was aggravated by the harm on children who would be deported with their parents, Cloete said.

"The first underlying principle is that children are individual right bearers and not mere appendages of their parents. The second is that, even if it can be justified that a parent ought to be barred from applying for asylum for procedural missteps -- which we have found cannot be countenanced -- children are not to be penalised for the missteps of their parents," Judge Cloete said.

Turning to the relief, Judge Cloete said in terms of the Constitution, a court which makes an order of constitutional invalidity may grant a temporary interdict or other temporary relief, pending confirmation or otherwise by the Constitutional Court.
Scalabrini had asked for a temporary interdict.
But, Judge Cloete said, this would be too far-reaching and would effectively "have the consequence that we step into the shoes of the legislature for an indefinite period".

"This does not sit comfortably with us."
She noted that since the initial interdict was granted the "unintended consequence" was that the asylum system had been shut down.
"We have also taken into account that the constitutional challenge is an abstract one. There is nothing preventing any affected individual from approaching the court in his or her own right given our findings and the pending confirmation, or otherwise, of the Constitutional Court."

She said the respondents had highlighted a number of possible practical difficulties if another temporary interdict were granted.
"We deliberately adopted a cautious approach because, as indicated, the ramifications to hundreds of thousands of individuals in this country, as well as the respondents, are potentially both too risky and too great.

"We shall thus simply suspend our declaration of invalidity pending the outcome of the Constitutional Court proceedings".
The court struck down the relevant provisions as being unconstitutional, discharged the interim interdict granted in August 2024 and ordered the government respondents to pay 80% of Scalabrini's costs.