The landscape of global mobility continues to evolve, presenting new obstacles for expatriates and relocation companies alike. As we look towards 2025, Africa’s global mobility landscape is shaped by unique challenges that require careful navigation.

In this latest blog post, our General Manager, Rene Webster, shares her insights on the most common hurdles faced in expatriate relocation across the continent.

She also highlights how Relocation Africa is committed to supporting clients in overcoming these challenges, ensuring a seamless relocation process through expert guidance, bespoke solutions, and innovative strategies.

1. Immigration Issues
The number one challenge in Africa remains immigration, characterised by complex visa processes, frequent policy changes, a lack of documentation of policy and/or adherence to policy, alongside ongoing delays in government approvals. The solution is to partner with local experts who stay updated on regulatory changes and proactively advise on required documentation, process changes, and set realistic expectations in terms of lead times.

2. Governmental Pressure on Local Hiring
Continuing with the immigration trend, the second challenge is the increasing governmental pressure to hire and train local talent. It is therefore crucial that part of your immigration process addresses creating a robust workplace skills plan and ensures this is applied in practice.

3. Short-Term Accommodation
Number three is the increased need for short-term accommodation, particularly for expatriates transitioning to permanent housing and due to the rise in short-term assignments. The challenge here is the limited availability of quality, safe, secure, and vetted accommodation across Africa. To overcome this, you need to work with a partner that physically vets accommodation to ensure it is safe, secure, and located in a safe area with easy access to workplaces, schools, and amenities.

4. Limited High-Quality Housing and Inflated Rental Costs
Number four is the limited availability of high-quality housing in major cities, along with inflated rental costs. It is key that your DSP works with reputable local estate agents to source suitable housing, negotiating long-term leases with favourable terms. They must also set realistic housing expectations with assignees before their relocation.

5. Safety and Security Concerns
Lastly, number five, as with many other parts of the world, safety and security are expected to be major concerns in many parts of Africa in 2025 due to political instability, increasing crime rates, and localised conflicts in certain regions. Providing secure housing, delivering robust safety briefings to assignees, and collaborating with security consultants to create contingency plans is therefore vital.

Navigating Growth, Innovation, and Wellbeing in Africa

On September 11th, Johannesburg played host to the HR Summit 2024, a conference that brought together thought leaders, industry experts, and innovators to discuss the future of work and leadership across the African continent. Our Director, René Stegmann, and Operations Manager, Shavanee Singh, were present, gaining great insights into the evolving landscape of HR, innovation, and business strategy.

Key Points from the conference

1. The Surge In African Startups

One of the topics that stood out was the remarkable surge of venture capital investment in Africa’s tech startup sector. Cape Town, in particular, is rising as a key player, with great investments flowing into e-commerce, fintech, health tech, clean tech, and enterprise. Regardless of the challenges faced by Africa’s intricate investment environment, the continent’s vast and youthful population (median age 18) displays a promising opportunity for future growth.

2. The Importance of ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance)

Khatija Kapdi from Dentons gave insight on the major role of ESG. As organisations seek to balance profitability with sustainability, ESG principles are becoming essential to corporate strategy. Companies are encouraged to minimise their environmental impact, enhance community well-being, and create sustainable supply chains. Embracing ESG is not just about compliance but about shaping a future fit business model that aligns with both legal and ethical standards.

In line with these principles, our organisation has developed a Sustainability Materiality Assessment, which serves as a foundational tool to navigate sustainability challenges and address issues that directly impact our business and stakeholders. This assessment is designed to drive positive change within the Global Mobility industry by addressing rising ESG issues in a structured, rational, and impactful manner. It goes beyond mere compliance, providing a formalised approach to identifying and prioritising key sustainability issues. For more insights into our sustainability efforts and how we are addressing critical ESG issues, we encourage you to explore our downloadable assessment report available here.

3. Creating a Resilient and Adaptive Organisation

Sameera Mahomed from Microsoft emphasised the importance of resilience and adaptability in today’s fast paced world. A “future fit” company is one that not only survives but thrives by leveraging cutting edge technology and fostering a growth mindset. This means being open to change, embracing failure as a learning opportunity, and aligning organisational culture with forward thinking values.

4. Embracing Innovation and Leadership 

Thato Molamu of LIMA proposed the role of innovative leadership in transforming corporate culture in the future. Innovation is often silenced by the fear of failure; thus, the only way to be successful is to nurture a creative mindset while at the same time, taking risks. Leaders of the future will be forced to acquire skills like critical thinking, trend identification, skills solution, and agility.

5. Bridging Talent Gaps

Africa’s youth population faces major unemployment and skills gaps, specifically in sectors like ICT, construction , engineering, logistics, and health. The gathering discussed solutions like immigration programs, regional exchanges, partnerships with educational institutions, and technology adoption to enhance skills training

6. Cultivating a Culture of Wellbeing

The stressed environment of business today was the theme discussed by Priyal Ramdass that was focused on adding wellbeing into the mix. Practices like doing breath work and utilising mindfulness will help to achieve both the personal and organisation well being. By remaining centered in gratitude and examining our state of being.

Awaken your inner potential and unlock your innate powers by:

Breath to change your state
Stop and focus to reframe with awareness
Find your rhythm choice recalibrated
And repeat!

Looking Forward

The HR Summit 2024 provided René Stegmann and Shavanee Singh with a great deal of information and insights that can undoubtedly influence our approach to growth and development. From embracing ESG principles to nurturing a resilient and innovative organisational culture, the lessons learned are crucial for navigating the evolving business landscape.

As we move forward, we are eager to apply these insights to our own organisational practices, ensuring we remain at the forefront of industry trends and continue to drive positive change in our sector.

Ready to optimise your global approach? Connect with us today to learn how our specialised services in mobility, immigration, remuneration, and research can support your organisation’s growth and efficiency.

As each country has different payroll practices, taxation laws, and labour laws, each country will fill in different forms. You will typically be able to find out which reports are required by contacting the governing revenue service; for example, the governing revenue service of South Africa is SARS.

 

You can also choose to consult with one of our payroll advisors as they know exactly what is required in an African country.

 

Nonetheless, there are certain payroll reports that are commonly required across many countries, which may help you to establish a foundation for payroll compliance. We have compiled a list of these below:

 

Company Payroll Reports

 

A company payroll report will be able to provide you with detailed information on the payroll expenses within your business.

 

It is essential to consistently and punctually complete these reports for each designated time frame. By comparing these reports, you can gauge the estimated monthly funds required to fulfil your payroll obligations.

 

Employee Payroll Reports

 

This report is often also referred to as an employee earnings report. There should be an employee payroll report for each individual employee.

 

Usually, these reports contain details such as the employee’s wages, tax withholdings, and various allowances and deductions. It is important that the respective employee has access to their own payroll report, as they are entitled to review and receive it.

 

Payroll Tax Reports

 

These reports indicate what your company’s employees’ compensation consists of. These documents will typically be completed every quarter or on an annual basis.

 

On completion, you need to submit these reports to the revenue service governing your country. They will then assess and verify your business’s compliance with the payroll laws applicable to your country.

 

Certified Payroll Reports

 

Government contractors in numerous countries are obligated to furnish a certified payroll report, which varies in terms of frequency depending on the respective governing body.

 

These reports may be mandated on a weekly, monthly, quarterly, or annual basis. Their purpose is to disclose the payroll expenditures of the contractor to the relevant revenue service or governing authority.

 

Time Tracking Reports

 

If your employees are obligated to complete daily time sheets, these reports become essential. Time tracking reports allow you to assess the amount of overtime worked by an employee within a month as well.

 

Our Services

Payroll reports can be confusing, click on the link below and contact our team of experts to see how we can help:

New visas

In the annual performance plan for 2023/24, published in April, The Department of Home Affairs (DHA) said that the groundwork for new visas was underway. Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said that The DHA was exploring new visa categories, which includes start-up visas and remote working visas.

More recently, Bottom of FormThe DHA said they are committed to finalising the implementation of the new visa categories by the end of June 2023.

Initially, the Minister said that the current regulatory framework to introduce new visa categories did not exist and he went on to say that The DHA had no plans to change this.

However, the new visa categories has been key topics in President Cyril Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Address for the last two years.

The Operations Vulindlela team recently submitted a comprehensive report to the President, recommending the possibility of new visa categories which would benefit the economy.

The DHA has subsequently drafted an implementation plan, in order to introduce these visas and they have confirmed that they intend to have the specific requirements for remote work visas and start-up visas detailed within the next three months. This will require the amendments of regulations 11 and 14 in the SA Immigration Regulations.

A consultation document is expected to be completed by the end of June 2023, with a whitepaper expected to be submitted to cabinet by the end of April 2024.

E-Visas

The DHA indicated that they will continue rolling out the e-visa system, with technology being at the centre of operations, in order to simplify and make it secure to enter and leave SA. According to The DHA, the e-visa system is in place for 14 countries. The DHA had experienced challenges as a result of slow network speeds which resulted in backlogs. However, the establishment of an e-visa hub contributed towards clearing the backlog. The DHA is planning to extend the e-visa platform to an additional 20 + non visa exempt countries.

 

The additional countries will include:

  • Albania
  • Algeria
  • Belarus
  • Bulgaria
  • Cuba
  • Comoros
  • Congo
  • Croatia
  • Ghana
  • Guinea
  • Indonesia
  • Ivory Coast
  • Lithuania
  • Liberia
  • Mali
  • Morocco
  • Niger
  • Romania
  • Senegal
  • Slovak Republic

 

SA is revamping the system with the aim of attracting critical skills. However, despite their efforts, they have experienced many issues, resulting in visa processing backlogs. Towards the end of March 2023, The DHA issued a circular whereby granting an automatic extension of long term visa categories if applications were still pending, while it attempts to process the backlog of visa and waiver applications, which amounts to more than 62 000.

To put the extent of the backlog into context, in 2022, The DHA aimed to have most critical skills visa applications processed within four weeks of application. However, it is estimated that they only managed to process 20% of these applications in that time. This is down from 57% in 2021. The DHA has now set a goal of having 90% of these visas processed in 2023. However, it anticipates only being able to clear the current backlog some time in 2024, which means that their goal of processing 90% of these visas in 2023, is looking unachievable.

 

Should you need more information, please feel free to contact our expert immigration tea by clicking on the link below: