South Africa May 2006 |
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| Cabinet cracks whip over immigration procedures, (Business Day, 2006-05-04):-In a tacit admission that immigration regulations were harming the Accelerated Shared Growth Initiative for SA (Asgi-SA), the cabinet has ordered the home affairs department to give a "detailed presentation" in two weeks' time on the immigration regulations. Immigration consultants had said they were seeking help from foreign business chambers in SA to pressure government to ease immigration regulations. They claim these are hampering foreign investment. Cabinet's decision indicated concern that the regulations may be impeding the country's ability to attract the scarce skills Asgi-SA needed to achieve the economic growth targets envisaged. However, home affairs department spokesmen said no multinational company had formally complained. Speaking after yesterday's cabinet meeting, government spokesman Joel Netshitenzhe said the department's brief would cover time lags in dealing with applications and any blockages undermining the country's effort to attract scarce skills. Netshitenzhe said time frames for the approval of applications for work permits, visas and other documentation that companies needed would be examined. Netshitenzhe said some progress had been made with the publication of categories of skills and their associated work permit quotas. In another Asgi-SA-related matter, he said that cabinet had received a report on the work already done to simplify the environmental impact assessment system. Lengthy delays in environmental impact assessments has also been seen as an obstacle. "This process is informed by the need to ensure that the system does not constrain investment and job creation," said Netshitenzhe. | |
South African Migration Project (SAMP) - Queen's University - http://www.queensu.ca/samp |