Almost 35 000 quota work permits for foreigners with scarce and critical skills were made available by Home Affairs Minster Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula on Wednesday.
She issued a list of quota work permits for selected professions, which means foreign nationals with the required qualification and work experience will be allowed to enter South Africa without first having secured employment.
Fifty-three occupations — including call-centre managers, clinical and biomedical engineers, technologists, and precision-metal trade workers — were on the list of wanted skills.
This is the second year that the quota work permits were issued but Mapisa-Nqakula admitted that last year’s uptake was ”not overwhelming”.
”It was much, much less than we expected,” she said.
Successful applicants under the quota system are required to find a job in their field of expertise within 90 days of being issued with permits to enter South Africa.
The work permits remain valid for as long as the permit holders are employed in their area of expertise, even if they change jobs.
”Every effort has been made to simplify the process so that we can get as many skilled people into the economy as quickly as possible,” said Mapisa-Nqakula. — Sapa