South Africa has introduced a Remote Work visa. It allows you to stay in South Africa while working remotely for a company abroad.
The minimum salary requirement to get this visa is R650,976 per annum, which is about US $3,000 a month. The Visa is for 3 years, which you can renew thereafter. You will work for a foreign employer without being taxed in South Africa, provided your home country has a double taxation agreement with South Africa.
The new visa was gazetted this week by South Africa’s Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber. It is now in effect and people can apply.
What is a Nomad Visa?
Generally called Nomad Visas, they allow you to migrate to a country and stay while working remotely for an employer that’s not in that country. You of course need to prove this employment and the income from it.
Because it’s remote work, such visas are commonly used by people in technology like software engineers.
South Africa joins a growing list of countries offering nomad visas, including Portugal, Seychelles, Mauritius, Estonia, Iceland, and more. These visas are designed to attract skilled professionals who can contribute to the local economy by spending their income on housing, dining, entertainment, and tourism. In return, nomads enjoy the opportunity to live and work in a new environment, experiencing a different culture and lifestyle.
South Africa offering this Visa is a significant step. Immigration in South Africa has been an issue for a few years now. Politicians have jumped onto it using it as an election campaign issue, with some politicians promising South Africans they will be tougher on immigrants to ensure, Jobs are reserved for South Africans only immigrants adding value to SA are allowed to stay. A Nomad Visa allows to attract people that bring their money without taking local jobs.
Does this Visa make sense for Zimbabwean professionals?
A South African nomad visa is interesting because all along we have assumed people want to work in SA without necessarily needing to live there. Why? Well, the crime. The media suggests hard crimes are very common. Bad things are good for news.
What we hear when we talk to Zimbabwean techies working remote jobs is that they love the flexibility of living in Zimbabwe while working remotely for a company outside Zimbabwe
A Zimbabwean software engineer working for, say, a South African company paying them $5k a month would want to live in Chimanimani. They’d have their solar electricity solution that’s completely off grid, their Starlink kit offering great rural internet speeds. Or they could be working for a EU company, and South Africa would just be where they go for gadget and clothes shopping once every 6 or so months.
It sounds ideal until you think about the health situation in the country. In Zimbabwe health emergencies can easily go south and unless you can be airlifted to South Africa. Good luck getting to SA within a few hours from Chimanimani.
Zimbabwe is beautiful, but needing to have your own little solution (or paying premium prices) for things a government would otherwise be responsible for – health, education, neighbourhood roads, water, electricity, constantly figuring out the value of things – can be exhausting (or liberating depending on your lifestyle).
Reports of crime aside, South Africa does offer some stability allowing you to focus on the work you love doing.
Curious to know your thoughts on this visa. Please share your thoughts in the comments below.
12 comments
I think you guys need to work on your notification system. We cant be receiving browser notifications for old stories that we already read weeks ago. And they keep coming maybe 10 of them at once. Its not a good practice.
If you are earning $5k per month Zimbabwe is paradise. This is a no rules environment that’s empty, no congestion. The tech people you talk about are generally introverts. They spend 80 percent plus of their time alone on the computer! The issues you have raised (roads, water, electricity, health etc) are a no brainer if you can get $5k per month. You can live anywhere so long you have connectivity.
One needs to be in a conducive environment that also adds value to them, an environment that boosts one’s creativity and productivity. One will need to network and unwind with physical beings in the most conducive environment for family. Only the working should be remote with health, education and entertainment facilities easily accessible.
Crime is everywhere, even here we have serious cases on the increase. Staying together with people of the same class of living is better than staying like an island as groups or communities can devise security and protection procedures, in addition to a well trained and resourced national police force.
If Lucky Dube was alive he wouldn’t agree with what you are saying. See, we are comparing Zim and SA from the perspective of one earning $5k per month and working online. There are so many addresses where one can get the types of services you are talking about and more here. Borrowdale Brook for instance. Think what one can do here with $5k per month and not about the average Zimbo. This Visa is targeting people who can live anywhere on earth.
Word👌
Sorry, the answer is NO, for me.
I can see some dudes who value easy, loose moral women above their Safety and Security, rushing to SA.
What’s the point, even if you live in a gated community, unless you go everywhere else by helicopter and not by road. I have lived in South Africa, and can’t imagine setting foot on South African soil ever again.
Donkey years ago, I was robbed in Smol St. in broad daylight and no security guard or people around assisted me when I shouted I was being robbed. I have witnessed cars being hit by smash and grab tactics at traffic lights in affluent Johannesburg suburbs.
Reminds me of a visit to Lusaka, Zambia when at that time the wisdom on the streets was at night you do not stop at a traffic even if, according to traffic rules were you were supposed to stop.
NEVER AGAIN. Wild horses will not drag me to South Africa!!!!!!!!!!
Lately am facing issues with your site. It takes ages to load when browsing from Econet. Sometimes I have to reload the page, is everything okay.
Just like South Africa is spicing up its travel scene with the introduction of Africa , its rich culinary heritage adds flavor to the experience. Whether you’re working remotely while enjoying a classic South African braai or indulging in local favorites like bobotie and bunny chow, the country offers a unique blend of work-life balance and food culture. This new visa not only opens doors for global professionals but also invites them to savor the diverse tastes of South Africa while staying connected to their work from stunning landscapes.
That evening I finished late. I’m not from Westgate so unfamiliar territory.. So I called the ever reliable Mr. Madore take taxi me home, easy, shops, roundabout, Harare drive, pfe pa den.
New Can Hate Me Now -. Nas, Sean Puffy Combs
Everyday People
Naughty by nature – Jamboree; Feel Me Flow
German SS Marching Song – Erika
Wreck it Ralph
Zangief: I am bad guy, but I am not bad guy. 🇷🇺
Ken and Ryu 🇺🇲🇯🇵. Let’s get a Beer Ken.
Satan. Its not Satan its Sa-tini👹
Ralph: No iffs no butts no Coconuts?
INT. HERO’S DUTY, DARK HULL — DAY
It’s chock full of soldiers. Ralph joins them.
SOLDIER
Come on now, hustle up. Clock is
ticking. Let’s go.
RALPH
Rootin’
, tootin’
, ready for
shootin’!
Just then, SERGEANT TAMORA JEAN CALHOUN steps up before her
men.
CALHOUN
Alright, now listen up ‘cause I’m
only gonna say this once. Fear is a
four letter word, ladies. If you
wanna go pee-pee in your big boy
slacks, keep it to yourself! It’s
make-your-mamas-proud time!
RALPH
I love my momma!
SOLDIER 2
Heads up! First-Person Shooter
coming through.
Soldiers make way for a rinky-dink robot with a flat-screen
head that displays the count-down to game play. Stiff
mechanical arms hold a gun. The wheels are wobbly to simulate
walking. Meet the FIRST-PERSON SHOOTER (“FPS”).
GAME ANNOUNCER (V.O.)
Game play in 3…2….
CALHOUN
We are humanity’s last hope. Our
mission: destroy all cy-bugs.
Ralph shoves his way to the front, right behind the FPS.
CALHOUN (CONT’D)
You ready rookie? Let’s find out.
The door opens and the view is vicious!
The wind is wild. The terrain is sharp and twisted. Giant CY- BUGS fly towards them. They’re part machine, part nature,
with razor-sharp pincers, thrashing metal teeth and laser
wings. A 99-story caustic building rises up out of the
twisted ground behind them.