Do foreign workers qualify for UIF?

Asked and Answered.
We have received a number of calls and emails related to the employment of non-South African nationals. One of the questions relates to the Unemployment Insurance Fund.
All employees who have a green bar-coded Identity Document - the green ID book must be registered with the Department of Labour for UIF.
Employees with these green ID books will be able to claim for the benefits under the unemployment scheme, that is for: unemployment, maternity, adoption, and long term illness.
However, non-nationals who are in South Africa legally, on other forms of documentation and work permits should not be contributing to the Unemployment Insurance Fund, because they will not be able to benefit from the fund.
Editor's Comments
Employers are now in the situation where their employee complement, will vary for different purposes such as their monthly payments to SARS, and their reporting figures for Employment Equity, Skills Development and the elements of the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Scorecard.
These numbers will not all correspond and will require qualification and definition, and employers are advised to ensure that their employee records are accurate and up to date.
(Please see our report on the classification of Chinese persons, who were resident in South Africa before 1994 and their descendents, who were classified as coloured under apartheid legislation and are now included in the definition of designated groups for the purposes of Employment Equity and Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment.) Chinese South Africans qualify for BEE and EE
Examples of the complexity are:
when completing the monthly payment to SARS,
? Income tax will be deducted from all employees according to the tax schedules and additionally any consultants who do not meet the independent contractor test,
? UIF will be deducted only from South African nationals, and not from employees who have other forms of documentation to work in South Africa,
? SDL (skills development levy) is calculated at 1% for South African nationals, and 2% for non-nationals (those without green barcoded IDs).
Our understanding is that registration for Workmen?s? Compensation in terms of COIDA, all employees should be registered.
However, we have approached the relevant section of the Department of Labour for confirmation of this.