South Africa has issued 4,913 critical skills visas since 2020 to nationals from over 100 countries, with more than half (55%) of those going to people from Zimbabwe and India.

Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber revealed the information in a recent parliamentary Q&A, where he noted that the department exhausted “all efforts” to determine that no South African citizens or permanent residents had the necessary skills and qualifications to fill the positions before issuing the visas to foreign nationals.

“This was done in collaboration with the Department of Higher Education and Training. The methodology used to determine the critical skills is detailed in a Technical Report on Critical Skills published on the website DHET,” he said.

Out of the 4,913 visas issued since 1 January 2020, 1,794 were issued to Zimbabwean nationals for hundreds of different jobs.

The biggest job category for which Zimbabwean nationals were issued a critical skills visa was trainee auditors, followed by integrated development, software developers, nursing, and ICT systems analysts.

After Zimbabwe, the second biggest import country for critical skills in South Africa is India, where 918 visas have been issued.

The table below outlines the top 20 countries that have been issued critical skills visas to South Africa:
#    Country    Visas
1    Zimbabwe    1,794
2    India    918
3    The Democratic Republic of Congo    295
4    Nigeria    286
5    Cameroon    90
6    Germany    85
7    China    84
8    The United Kingdom    82
9    Kenya    75
9    The USA    75
11    Lesotho    63
12    France    62
13    Pakistan    58
14    Zambia    50
15    Swaziland    48
16    Angola    45
17    Uganda    41
18    The Netherlands    39
19    Ghana    36
20    Botswana    35

Critical skills

South Africa’s critical skills list was updated for the first time since 2014 in February 2022, sparking controversy in the medical field at the time as most of the jobs cut from the list came from that sector.

In response to this, the list was updated again in August 2022, where 39 more occupations—largely from the medical field—were added to the list.

The last time the list was updated was in October 2023, when vets were added to the growing number of scarce skills in the country—however, general practitioners and doctors remain off the list.

    You can view South Africa’s full Critical Skills List here.

The department previously acknowledged that there has been “fierce criticism” of the critical skills list, mainly emanating from the professions that were cut.

It said that the Critical Skills List ought to be updated every four years due to the ever-changing skills shortage in South Africa.

In lieu of more regular updated to the critical skills list, the department is engaging in other ways to make it easier for the country to draw in the skills it needs.

The department is forging ahead with the Trusted Employer Scheme (TES), which should help businesses acquire international workers to address their skill shortages.

The country has also moved to implement a remote working visa, which should draw additional skills into the country.

International workers are seen as a short- and medium-term solution to the current skills shortage that many corporations in South Africa face, with skilled workers – especially those with STEM and IT skills – often heading in the other direction.

South Africa’s battle with skills is happening on all fronts.

Within the country itself, there is a dearth of skills that match the growing needs of businesses—and the skills that are present are either snapped up by companies, head for the exit due to various ‘push’ factors, or are working remotely for international companies.

Other countries outside of South Africa are also looking for skills, and local talent is ripe for the picking.

Countries like Australia, Canada, Germany and the UK have all pointed to dire shortages of skills in certain fields and expressed a willingness to draw these skills to their shores—and for South African talent with itchy feet, the prospects are often too inviting to ignore.

South Africa’s plan to attract more professionals to its skills-starved economy through the introduction of a so-called nomad visa for remote workers has been slowed by the need to amend tax regulations.

The impediment comes after an initial delay when changes to the visa regime had to be temporarily withdrawn because mandatory public consultation procedures hadn’t been followed. President Cyril Ramaphosa announced his intention to introduce a remote-working visa in his 2022 state-of-the-nation address.

“There is just a tax-related matter that needs to be addressed in the regulations,” Leon Schreiber, the country’s Home Affairs Minister, said in a response to queries. “Once that is done, the department will commence with the rollout.”

South Africa’s byzantine work permit regime, which means that securing a work permit can take well over a year, has been flagged as a hurdle to economic growth by both the presidency and the country’s main business organisations.

Still, a backlog of more than 300 000 applications for all kinds of residence permits has been halved since a new cabinet was announced on June 30 after the formation of a coalition government.

The home affairs ministry initially proposed allowing people employed and paid by companies elsewhere to live in the country for as long as six months a year without paying tax, as long as they earned at least R1 million annually.

The short answer
It's complicated, but there are things you could try
The whole question
I have a couple of questions regarding getting South African citizenship, here is my back story on my life:
I was brought into South Africa by my mother when I was 10 years old from Zimbabwe in the year 2000/2001 and I am turning 27 this year, so I have been residing in South Africa for my teen and adult life, when we arrived in South Africa my mother applied for refuge-ship and she was granted in 2005/2006 and as kids we have been under her file for all my South African live hood, whenever we would go to Home Affairs to renew our refugee papers we where given either 2 years or 4 years permit, she applied for permanent residence and we never heard from Home Affairs regarding the issue, when my mothers parents passed away in 2010 she traveled back to Zimbabwe to bury them as she is the only child. Home affairs found out about this and they charged her and made her pay a fine for that but now they are giving us 6 months refugee permits.
My questions are:
1 - Is it possible that we as her kids are getting punished for what she did back in 2010?
2- Home Affairs said they would open different files for us when we turn 18 years old but nothing has been done yet will this affect me getting my citizenship?
3- How can I apply for citizenship with the history I have never left South Africa from the age of 10 years old?
4- Do I need to seek legal help for me to start the process of applying for citizenship as an individual?
The long answer
Thank you for your email asking about applying for citizenship as the 27-year-old child of a registered refugee who has never left South Africa since arriving with your mother at the age of 10.
To answer your first question as to whether Home Affairs is punishing you by only issuing permits for six months at a time instead of the two to four years they used to give: it may be that they are punishing your mother for returning to Zimbabwe to bury her parents in 2010, for which she was fined

The Western Cape High Court has temporarily stopped the initiation of any process to deport a foreign national who has indicated an intent to apply for asylum, until their application has been finalised. • The Western Cape High Court has temporarily halted the initiation of any process to deport a foreign national who has indicated an intent to apply for asylum, until their application has been finalised. • The interim interdict will remain in place pending the outcome of the main court application brought by the Scalabrini Centre of Cape Town. • The court is expected to hear that main challenge in February 2025. The Western Cape High Court has issued an interim interdict stopping authorities from deporting a foreign national who has indicated an intention to seek asylum until their application has been determined on its merits. The order, handed down by acting Judge Brendan Manca on Friday, was done in agreement with the minister and director-general of home affairs, the chief director of asylum seeker management, and the refugee appeals authority. Foreign nationals are required to report to a refugee reception office and indicate their intent to apply for asylum within five days of entering South Africa. The interim order does not interdict the arrest and detention of such individuals. `The Constitutional Court made it plain that in regard thereto the criminal law must take its course,` said Manca in his judgment. The interim order is in place pending the finalisation of a constitutional challenge to provisions of the Refugees Act and associated regulations brought by the Scalabrini Centre of Cape Town. This challenge is set down on the roll for 27 February next year. The Scalabrini Centre previously explained that since November 2023, new applicants for asylum have been subject to arrest, detention, and deportation without the opportunity to undergo a refugee status determination interview. `This process effectively denies individuals access to the asylum system, leaving them vulnerable to deportation to their home countries, where they face persecution, violence, war, detention, or even death. Such actions are a direct violation of the principle of non-refoulement, the cornerstone of refugee protection,` it said. `Arrests stem from preliminary interviews conducted by immigration officials, who assess whether applicants have good cause for failing to enter the country through a designated port of entry and obtain an asylum transit visa at the border. The majority of applicants are found lacking good cause, resulting in their arrest for deportation.` Lawyers for Human Rights, which represents the centre, said the main application was challenging the `good cause` interview requirement for newcomer asylum seekers. `We, in collaboration with the Scalabrini Centre of Cape Town, are still unpacking the contents of the full judgment and will share an explainer early next week,` it shared on its social media pages.

So you saw the article below and you asked your self how does it affect me and how as an undocumented person can it help me . When you read this you will say to yourself how do I get to a refugee cemter and even lodge an application , they are  chasing people away when you go there or they give you the unstamped piece of paper with a date of 2026 and it doesn’t even say Home Affairs , neither immigration -DHA and SAPS know this paper and laugh at you . There is a solution , its technical and let us explain to you how to sleep peacefully at night and walk around around with confidence . Stop Deportation Of Illegal Foreigners: Western Cape High Court Warns Authorities

In a recent landmark decision, the Western Cape High Court has issued an interim interdict that prevents authorities fr om deporting a foreign national who has expressed an intention to seek asylum in South Africa. This ruling underscores the court’s commitment to upholding the rights of individuals seeking protection and ensures that their claims are considered thoroughly before any deportation action is taken.
The case in question involves a foreign national, whose identity has not been disclosed for privacy reasons, who was facing imminent deportation. The individual had entered South Africa and indicated a desire to apply for asylum, a process that grants protection to those fleeing persecution or serious harm in their home countries.
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