Immigration failures costing SA investment, jobs and vital economic momentum

You can also listen to this podcast on iono.fm here.

JEREMY MAGGS: South Africa’s immigration system is, I think, under some degree of renewed scrutiny, not only for who gets in or who gets turned away, but for the economic opportunities we may be losing.

The Immigration Amendment Bill, now before parliament, aims to fix unlawful detentions, inconsistent decisions and backlogs that have trapped skilled applicants in illegal status through no fault of their own.

Read: South Africa boosts deportations amid jobs crisis, minister says

Behind the legal clauses sits a bigger question: if South Africa had a system that was perhaps a little more fair, more efficient and predictable, could immigration actually help drive economic recovery rather than division?

In that respect, I’m joined by Candice Magen, who is an immigration specialist and chief executive officer of the company, Abroadscope. Candice, a very warm welcome to you. Let’s start with a broad overview. What’s the single biggest failure, in your opinion, in the current system that needs to be fixed?

CANDICE MAGEN: There’s no one single issue. Unfortunately, immigration is incredibly complex. You need to look at the individuals who are coming across the border, who we are trying to attract, and try and build a system that is relevant to the economic framework we’re trying to achieve here in South Africa.

We need aggressive reform in order to encourage job creation, to fix our economic challenges we have here. We need to be clever about who and how we attract these foreigners into the country.

Read:
Zimbabwe and Lesotho permit holders get a reprieve until May 2027
The resonance of Operation Dudula
Time running out to comment on SA’s new labour migration policy [May 2022]

We’re not advocating for free borders, open movement into the country, but we’re saying that there are a lot of people here already contributing to the economy who are finding it very difficult to navigate the immigration process and to follow the procedures. They’re erratic. They’re forever moving; they’re forever changing.

We need to get to a point where we know what we want, and we stick to that policy going forward.

JEREMY MAGGS: Have you put your finger on a cost? In other words, how much economic growth we might be losing because skilled immigrants are stuck in a degree of limbo?

CANDICE MAGEN: By Leon Schreiber’s own admission, with us not having clear policies on how we are going to attract foreigners to the country, we actually turned away a Netflix series that was about to invest R400 million into South Africa and give much-needed encouragement to the film industry in South Africa. It left us and went to Mexico.

From that, he’s obviously fixed the process of getting into the country. He’s made it a little bit easier with the ETA [Electronic Travel Authorisation] system, but that’s now only open for four countries at the moment, and that’s going to be expanded. It’s a 24-hour process; you can get a visitor’s visa to come to the country.

Now I’m saying that’s good for tourism, but immigration is a different issue.

We are not looking at tourists coming to the country and making it easier for them.

We’re looking at making it possible for people to invest, to feel secure about their investment, and to make sure that they could drive economic growth to South Africa, and that they will hold to those processes and procedures and regulations moving forward.

It’s not just about making it easier for them to get the first visa, but it’s making sure that they deliver on their promises to South Africa, especially those who are wanting to open a business here.

JEREMY MAGGS: So who do you think is most at risk within the construct of the current system? Would it be asylum seekers? Would it be skilled workers as you’ve referred to, or investors?

CANDICE MAGEN: I think our biggest challenge with those who are seeking asylum in South Africa is that the process for that is also irregular.

It’s long, it’s tedious and ultimately, you can’t put your head in the sand and pretend that these people are not here. They’re here. They live here. They school their kids here. They’ve birthed their children here. They’ve had funerals here, weddings here. They live here.

Read: Law clinics overwhelmed as Home Affairs blocks asylum seekers from the system

If somebody wakes up at 4:00 in the morning and they go on a bus and they go to a job and they do a good job, and then they go to church on a Sunday, and they are part of a very small part of the economic movement in this country, you can’t deny them the right to be here.

The bold move and the brave move would be making sure that these people are legal in the country.

That way, if you’re worried about national security, if you’re worried about making our borders porous, I think giving them a visa, tracking their movements, giving them the possibility to legitimise their status in the country, to bank in South Africa, to own a property in South Africa and to operate a business legally in South Africa or work in South Africa legally, then I think you’re solving the problem.

JEREMY MAGGS: I was going to say the difficulty, if I’m hearing you correctly, is balancing national security with, I guess, compassion and economic opportunity. But how do you respond to South Africans who believe immigration only brings risk and not return?

CANDICE MAGEN: I think they need to understand that these people are already here. I think the biggest concern that you have is that you don’t want to make it easy for more people to cross the border. I understand that.

Strengthening our borders is a must.

These people are not coming in on the back of food trucks, smuggling themselves into this country. They’re walking across the border like everybody else on a daily basis. They’re coming here on tourist visas. They’re overstaying their visas, and they’re getting employment opportunities in South Africa.

I think the pressure actually needs to be on the employer in South Africa.

I think if we are going to hold anybody accountable, it’s the employers that are taking these people and letting them work in the country without the right documentation.

If they manage that process correctly and efficiently and make it easier for these people to get employment and to stay employed with one company, you might find that they will do things the correct way.

They don’t want to do things the wrong way. If you ask any foreigner coming into South Africa, “Would you like to rather have a visa or would you not like to have a visa?” I can assure you that the majority of them have said, “I’d like to do things the right way.”

I don’t think it’s fair to say everybody that’s coming into the country is doing things the wrong way. I don’t think national security is an issue of immigration. That’s a Justice Department issue.

JEREMY MAGGS: Candice, let’s get back to the economic side of the equation. The skilled applicants who are stuck in limbo, who are having to deal with the backlogs through no fault of their own — are they simply giving up and going elsewhere? We are losing an enormous amount of opportunity with people who we really need.

CANDICE MAGEN: I think we are. We looked at our books recently and we’ve probably facilitated about R800 million investment into this country, all of which have not been easy processes to obtain their visas, be it people wanting to operate a business in South Africa and finding it difficult to go through the phases of Department of Trade and Industry, and then getting those endorsements in order to run a business.

Listen/read: New AI-powered visa system to boost SA tourism and investment

There are several parameters, or several barriers, let’s put it that way, to obtaining the correct visa.

I think the perception in South Africa, for most South Africans, is that we make it easy for people to come to South Africa. I don’t think that’s the case at all.

I think you need to look at the Immigration Act and say, for the longest time, it’s been the way it is. In order for us to reach our economic objectives for foreigners coming into the country, we need to relook at that immigration policy and Act, and we need to amend it in such a way that it incorporates the investor, it incorporates the people who want to start up a business here, the young entrepreneur.

We have the nomad visa that’s just been launched, but unfortunately that’s made no economic difference to South Africa.

A nomad, notoriously, is somebody who has a very low footprint in the country and has no interest in running a business or working in South Africa. They work for a company abroad and they open their laptop on the beach. This is not somebody who has a massive economic impact.

We want entrepreneurs to come to South Africa. We want business visas to come to South Africa, to start up businesses.

We want foreign businesses to set up call centres here, which the BPO [Business Process Outsourcing] sector has seen a massive increase in job creation in South Africa. It’s a big one for us. We have a BPO candidate at the moment who’s taken on 260 staff members. His process to getting his visa has been nothing short of a disaster from beginning to end.

JEREMY MAGGS: I sense this debate is going to continue well into 2026. Candice Magen, thank you very much indeed, chief executive officer of Abroadscope. Appreciate your time.

Follow Moneyweb’s in-depth finance and business news on WhatsApp here.