Counting merit: South Africa's points-based work visas

For most of the past two decades, a foreign professional seeking to work in South Africa had to clear one of two hurdles. Either the occupation appeared on the critical skills list, or the employer had to prove, through the Department of Employment and Labour, that no suitable South African could be found. In October 2024 the Minister of Home Affairs added a third idea: a points-based system that scores the applicant rather than only the job. This commentary examines what the system says, how it changes the logic of work immigration, and where its design is open to question.

The legal instruments

The Third Amendment of the Immigration Regulations, published on 9 October 2024, inserted regulation 18(12) and (13). Applications for general work visas under section 19(2) and critical skills work visas under section 19(4) must now be adjudicated in accordance with a points-based system determined by the Minister. The Minister may take into account qualifications, language skills, work experience, an offer of employment and salary, among other factors.¹

The first points notice, Government Notice 5397, was published the same day. Nine days later it was withdrawn by Government Notice 5447, which gave the correction of a typing error as the reason, and replaced by Government Notice 5448 of 18 October 2024.² GN 5448 is the operative instrument. I have found no later notice that amends it.

The points table

An applicant must reach 100 points, and all the other prescribed requirements still apply. The criteria in GN 5448 are:³

A single table serves both visas. An applicant who reaches 100 points through a critical skills occupation receives a critical skills work visa; one who reaches 100 through any other combination receives a general work visa. A professional with an honours degree (NQF level 8), a salary above the upper threshold and seven years of experience would score 30 plus 50 plus 20, which is exactly 100. With a master's degree (NQF level 9), the same person would score 120.

The system moves the question from "Can a South African do this job?" to "Is this person worth admitting?"

What the system changes

The most significant change is not in the table. It is in what happened to the labour-market test. Regulation 18(3) still requires a general work visa application to include a certificate from the Department of Employment and Labour confirming a diligent but unsuccessful search for a citizen or permanent resident, salary parity and matching qualifications.⁴ The Department of Home Affairs presented the points system as replacing that requirement, and the Minister announced in October 2024 that the certificate requirement had been waived.⁵ I have not been able to find the waiver instrument itself.

If that account is correct, one of the main protections for local workers has been displaced by an administrative waiver while the regulation that contains it remains on the books. Whatever one thinks of the policy, and there are good arguments that the old certificate process was slow and largely formal, a change of that importance should be made by amending the regulation, not by waiving it.

The second change is a shift towards salary as a proxy for skill. The lower threshold was described by the Department as roughly double the median income in the formal sector.⁶ Salary is objective and easy to verify. But it also favours sectors and employers that pay well, and it may undervalue skills that are scarce but modestly paid, such as some technical and teaching roles.

Questions of design

Several features of the notice deserve closer attention.

The "typing error". The withdrawn notice and its replacement differ in more than a typing error. The Trusted Employer criterion rose from 20 to 30 points, and the lower salary figure changed from R650,796 to R650,976.⁷ A substantive change made under the description of a correction, after consultation with the Immigration Advisory Board on the earlier version, invites the question whether the consultation required for the instrument was properly completed. Some commentary continues to quote the withdrawn figure, which shows how easily confusion arises.

No age factor. The draft points system presented in April 2024, following the work visa review led by Mavuso Msimang, included age and adaptability as criteria.⁸ Neither appears in GN 5448. Australia's points test scores age and requires most applicants to be under 45.⁹ Leaving age out is a defensible choice, but it is a choice, and the notice gives no reasons for it.

No indexation. The salary thresholds are fixed in rand and the notice contains no mechanism for adjusting them. Inflation will steadily lower their real value unless the notice is amended.

The critical skills shortcut. Because a listed occupation alone is worth 100 points, the rest of the table does nothing on the critical skills route. The list, last updated in October 2023, therefore remains decisive. A parliamentary reply in 2026 indicated that the next review of the list is expected in 2027.¹⁰

A comparative view

Points systems are a familiar tool. The United Kingdom's Skilled Worker route requires 70 points, 50 of them for mandatory criteria: a sponsored job offer, an appropriate skill level and English.¹¹ Canada's Comprehensive Ranking System ranks candidates out of 1,200 points and, since March 2025, no longer awards points for a job offer.¹² South Africa's model sits closer to the British one. It is a threshold system tied to a job offer, not a ranking system that selects the best of a pool. That matters: it is designed to admit employees whom employers have already chosen, not to attract independent skilled migrants.

What comes next

The revised draft White Paper on Citizenship, Immigration and Refugee Protection, published in December 2025 and approved by Cabinet in April 2026, proposes to combine the general work and critical skills visas into a single skilled worker visa assessed by points, with a route to permanent residence that does not depend on employer sponsorship.¹³ The Minister has said he hopes to introduce a Bill by March 2027.¹⁴ Until then, GN 5448 and the existing visas remain the law.

• Score the application before filing. Applications below 100 points face a real risk of refusal, even with a motivation.
• Use the correct salary figure. The lower threshold in the current notice is R650,976, not R650,796.
• Consider the Trusted Employer Scheme. For employers who qualify, the 30 points can make the difference for candidates without a postgraduate degree.
• Check the critical skills list carefully. A listed occupation still settles the points question on its own.

Conclusion

The points system is a meaningful step towards a more transparent and predictable work visa system. It replaces a slow and largely formal certification process with criteria that applicants can calculate for themselves. Its weaknesses lie less in the idea than in the way it was introduced: a substantive correction described as a typing error, a labour-market test displaced by waiver rather than amendment, and thresholds with no means of keeping pace with inflation. If the White Paper's skilled worker visa is to build on this foundation, those foundations should first be put on a proper legal footing.