One of the key recommendations to come out of the Review of South Africa’s Work Visa regime is that a Trusted Employer Scheme should be introduced. What is a Trusted Employer’s Scheme and what are the benefits of it?

A Trusted Employer Scheme allows a company to be vetted and approved in advance. Should the company pass the approval process they will then qualify for a simpler and less administrative intensive process when they wish to apply for work visas for foreign employees to work in South Africa. The vetting process would include requirements such as company registration, tax compliance, and compliance with the labour laws.

Certain eligibility criteria would also be applicable to companies wishing to register for the scheme. These would likely include the following:

• Major Investors in South Africa (a threshold of an investment of around R 500 million is likely)
• Participation in strategic sectors of the economy (priority growth areas)
• Regional Offices of Multinational Companies

Once a company had been approved it would then be granted a specific number of visas for a particular year subject to a predefined maximum (e.g. 20% of its total staff compliment). The company would be provided with a Sponsorship Certificate which they would include with each visa application.

As an example of how the company would then benefit is that certain visa requirements such as verification of academic qualifications, background checks etc. would not have to be submitted with the visa application. These requirements would be left to the company to perform itself in their own verification of their proposed employee.

The end result is that a company that is approved as a “trusted employer” will be able to employ a foreign person in South Africa faster and it will make the visa application outcome more predictable.