South Africa has formally embraced a "locals first" approach to employment, introducing new rules that require participating employers to prioritise South African citizens and permanent residents while offering faster visa processing to businesses that meet strict government criteria for recruiting foreign talent.
Building on a pilot that fast-tracked visas for a select group of trusted employers, the second phase of the Trusted Employer Scheme (TES) expands the programme to more sectors while tying faster visa processing to stronger commitments on local hiring, investment and skills development.
The scheme allows accredited employers to benefit from expedited visa processing, but only if they demonstrate meaningful investment in South Africa, employ predominantly local workers and invest in skills development.
The announcement comes weeks after anti-immigration protests and growing public pressure over the employment of foreign nationals reignited debate over South Africa's labour market.
While the government has presented the reforms as part of its broader immigration modernisation agenda, the new hiring requirements mirror one of the central demands of recent anti-immigration campaigns: that South Africans should be given priority in the country's workforce.
