Flexible immigration procedures are essential for skilled workers to
move easily between countries and businesses. However, all around the
world, there's a certain tension between the needs of governments
seeking to manage immigration, and businesses wanting to hire the most
talented people. As the global competition for talent intensifies, new
policies for resolving this tension have emerged, including preferential
visa regimes for certain types of workers and quotas.
One region that lags behind in tackling these issues is Africa. While
the free movement of labour is a principle enshrined in certain
sub-regional agreements, it is often either not ratified or not
effectively implemented.
In many parts of Africa, there are prohibitive,
time-consuming and costly obstacles to the mobility of people,
including talented Africans. Not only does this thwart innovation and
competitiveness, it risks exacerbating the "brain drain" that takes
skilled Africans away from their own continent.
For many businesses in Africa, it is easier to employ a skilled
non-African expatriate than a skilled African expatriate. Overall,
barriers to African talent mobility are a drag on the continent's growth
and economic performance. As African countries pursue policies designed
to encourage economic growth, freer movement of talented people is
becoming an increasingly important issue.
So what are the main barriers to talent mobility in Africa? A recent
pilot survey of several multinational businesses operating in 17 African
countries, conducted by the World Economic Forum's Global Agenda
Council on Migration, identified four issues:
Visa requirements: Surveyed companies identified a range of
visa-related obstacles across numerous African countries. In the
Democratic Republic of the Congo, for example, the number of different
visas required (entry, exit, working establishment) was considered
burdensome. In Nigeria, the eligibility criteria for a visa for a
skilled worker were considered to be too demanding, focusing on formal
education level rather than experience gained through work. In the case
of one specific visa in Senegal, it was unclear what sort of work permit
could subsequently be issued.
Quotas: A number of African countries covered by the survey promote a
national preference system by imposing a quota on the number of foreign
workers – no more than 10% of a company's workforce in Gabon, for
example – or their sectors – "network and support professionals" in
South Africa. Quotas are often used to protect the national labour
force, but several companies surveyed for this report were concerned
either that they were unnecessarily prohibitive, or that they were not
applied consistently. In both cases quotas risk reducing the supply of
talent to business rather than promoting local employment, especially
where they are not regularly revised.
Procedures: In the majority of countries covered by the survey,
procedural obstacles to applying for, processing and renewing visas and
work permits were reported. At the application stage, problems included a
lack of published information on visa requirements (Algeria, Uganda),
no uniformity in visa requirements between different embassies and high
commissions (Nigeria, South Africa), and inconsistency in instructions
for supporting documentation such as education certificates (Egypt,
Uganda). An inordinate processing time was reported in Algeria, Chad,
Tanzania and Uganda, for various reasons.
In the case of Uganda, for
example, decisions can only be made when the immigration board meets to
consider work permit applications, and it does so on an irregular basis.
In Ghana the processing fee was considered too high; and in two other
cases concerns were expressed about the discretionary power of
immigration officers. In Madagascar and Swaziland, responding companies
had experienced difficulties in having work permits renewed.
Capacity: In a number of countries, these and other obstacles arose
not necessarily because there was no legal or policy framework, but
because there was a lack of capacity to implement the framework. Across
several responses and countries, businesses worried about a shortage of
staff, a lack of trained staff, misunderstanding of the procedures, and
too much individual discretionary power.
We asked companies what the consequences of these obstacles were.
Responses ranged from the practical – dealing with them was
time-consuming and costly; to business impacts – inability to attract
talented workers and even intra-corporate transferees; to impacts on the
national economy – for example where quotas are resulting in skills
gaps in the labour market that cannot immediately be filled locally.
For these and more reasons, lifting barriers to the mobility of
talented Africans should be a priority. In addition to a range of
country-specific observations, our project has identified the following
preliminary recommendations:
- Development of online systems to make processes accessible and transparent
- Where quota systems exist, ensuring that they respond more accurately to labour market requirements
- Simplification of visa and work permit application and renewal procedures
- Cross-government coordination, in particular between labour, economic affairs, foreign affairs and immigration ministries
- More effective consultation between governments and the business sector
- Country-level training of immigration officials and consular agents
None of these recommendations is easy to achieve, but for Africa's
economies to thrive, the continent will need to unlock the potential of
its most important asset: its people.
Khalid Koser is deputy director of the Geneva Centre for Security
Policy and Chair of the Global Agenda Council on Migration of the World
Economic Forum.
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