Articles

Children born in South Africa to foreign parents not automatically entitled to SA citizenship, says court

Home Affairs clarifies DELAY in awarding spousal visas

The Department of Home Affairs is going through a torrid time. As The South African reported earlier this year, naturalised South Africans are being refused smart ID cards. This is despite having the same constitutional rights as every other South African citizen. Now, Home Affairs minister Aaron Motsoaledi has decided to clarify the reasons behind lengthy delays for spousal visas.Business Tech reports that some spousal (and relatives) visas are taking up to two years to process. The minister of Home Affairs says this is because documentation and claims need to be verified. Replying to a parliamentary Q&A session, the minister says the issue is being addressed by the Home Affairs ‘Backlog Eradication Plan’. V.5305

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Nearly 4,000 people blocked from entering SA illegally over Easter

Border Management Authority SA commissioner Mike Masiapato on Sunday revealed that over a 10-day period during Easter nearly 4,000 people were intercepted attempting to enter the country illegally.Addressing a media briefing, Masiapato said 2,403 of those intercepted did not have any documents at all. Another 1,019 individuals were refused entry for being undesirable and 419 were found inadmissible to enter the country due to various reasons.“The majority of those arrested without documents were intercepted at the vulnerable segments of the borderline. They were processed, declared undesirable for five years, and were deported. Most of the inadmissible individuals were found with invalid passports, fraudulent visas or just failed to produce relevant documents such as valid yellow fever certificates, especially those travelling from yellow fever endemic countries,” Masiapato said. V.5303

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LISTEN | Drones, speedboats, hand-held biometric devices to help manage borders: Motsoaledi

Home affairs minister Aaron Motsoaledi says surveillance drones, speedboats and hand-held biometric devices have been ordered to help manage the country`s porous borders. South Africa`s land borders cover about 4,700km. Insufficient security and the poor state of fencing make the borders insecure, with foreigners entering illegally and allowing other acts of criminality. V.5304

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Home Affairs visa backlog ballooning as foreign nationals use loophole

Home Affairs Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi has blamed visa backlogs on the growth in the number of notarial contracts being instituted by foreign nationals using non-existent spouses. Motsoaledi was speaking at a media briefing in Pretoria, on Tuesday on the amended immigration regulations, over which he said there seemed to be some misunderstanding. He said as a result of the confusion, the department would be withdrawing the gazetted amendments to clear up the misconceptions and would re-gazette them as early as next week. The minister admitted that his department was experiencing a backlog surrounding dependants, spouses and relatives’ visas being sought by foreign nationals who had been approved to come into the country after successfully obtaining employment. He said in most cases while the approvals were easily obtained, they did not include spouses and dependants, which many were decrying as they were not willing to be separated from their families. V.5298

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Home Affairs clarifies misunderstanding on work visas

Home Affairs Minister, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, has moved to clarify a misunderstanding on the gazetted regulations recommendations on the Critical Skills and General Work Visas. This comes after some media reports had stated that the department had done away with the Critical Skills Visa in favour of a point-based system. Briefing the media on the Second Amendment of the Immigration Regulation 2014 on Tuesday, Motsoaledi pointed out that section 19(4) of the Immigration Act states that a Critical Skills Work Visa may be issued by the Director-General to an individual possessing such skills or qualifications determined to be critical for the Republic from time to time by the Minister by notice in the gazette. V.5299

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Home Affairs working on major visa changes for South Africa

The Department of Home Affairs (DHA) has backtracked on its new Immigration Regulations but still has several new initiatives in the pipeline for South Africa. Minister of Home Affairs Aaron Motsoaledi said that he would withdraw the recently gazetted Immigration Regulation Amendments. The regulations replaced the highly-contested critical skills list with a new points-based system. The regulations were received positively by businesses in South Africa, with the Consumer Goods Council of South Africa saying that they should ease the administrative burden that international companies with businesses in South Africa face when hiring skilled foreigners. V.5300

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Home Affairs loses 38 000 working hours due to load shedding

The Department of Home Affairs says it has lost close to 38 000 working hours over the past five financial years due to the impact of load shedding. The Eastern Cape has the highest amount of working hours lost at more than 7 900. Mpumalanga lost 5 990 hours, while Gauteng lost 4 621 working hours. This was revealed by the Minister of Home Affairs, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, replying to a Democratic Alliance (DA) parliamentary question on the total hours lost in each province due to load shedding. DA MP, Christopher Roos, who posed the question, says this is an alarming number of working hours lost, and is a concern for service delivery. V.5301

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Cape Town set for record cruise tourist season

Industry injected an estimated R1.2bn into the Western Cape economy in the last financial year, with around 90 000 passengers and 38 000 crew members expected to step ashore in the current year. For the first time in history, Friday (11 April) saw two of the world’s most famous cruise liners the Queen Mary 2 and the Queen Victoria dock in the Port of Cape Town at the same time. V.5302

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Legalising yourself from within South Africa

In the past, prior to the amendments to the Immigration Act, it was possible for an illegal foreigner to “legalise” or “regularise” him/herself from within South Africa by making payment of the requisite fine. This is no longer the case and we are constantly encountering foreigners who find themselves illegally in South Africa with little hope of rectifying their situation. The current dilemma In many cases, these illegal foreigners elect to depart South Africa and contest any ban issued to them from outside of the country. This involves the submission of an overstay appeal to the Department of Home Affairs (“DHA”). A number of foreigners, however, simply have too much invested in South Africa and are unwilling to depart the country for fear of incurring a ban that may or may not be overturned. V.5294

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Home Affairs blocked from deporting ‘critical skills’ Czech executive

By its own admission, the department loses most of its court cases- the costs of which are borne by the taxpayer. Dzmitry Dzenisiuk was deployed to SA in 2014, with his wife joining him under a spousal visa. Both applied for visa extensions in February 2021. Image: Moneyweb The Department of Home Affairs (DHA) has been blocked by the Pretoria High Court from deporting a foreign worker and his wife, both of whom had been refused visa extensions, based on its failure to properly consider the documents supplied in their visa applications. This is the latest in a string of court losses notched up by Home Affairs. In the latest ruling, the high court ruled that the decision not to renew the visa of two foreign nationals must be set aside and returned to Home Affairs for reconsideration. V.5295

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SA’s tourism soars despite our visa mess

International Tourism Association’s Fred Duma said the visa backlog was now sitting at more than 95 000 applications. Tourist arrivals in South Africa hit a positive trend, with improvements in the number of visitors spanning 2021 to 2023 - despite the department of home affairs chasing away visitors who have not received visa renewals by 23 February. In a directive issued by home affairs on 21 December, tourists were advised to leave the country by the end of this month, despite admitting a backlog and long turnaround time for visas. International Tourism Association’s Fred Duma said the backlog was now sitting at more than 95 000 applications, “which clearly means no-one will get their visa by the time the minister Aaron Motsoaledi has set”. V.5296

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Private sector can help government with critical skills visa backlog

A lack of critical skills is holding back the South African economy but the problem is not being solved fast enough. The private sector is willing to help government with the visa backlog to ensure that people with critical skills can start working in the country to help grow the economy. Busi Mavuso, CEO of Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA), says in her weekly newsletter the Department of Home Affairs has a backlog of 74 000 applications for all kinds of visas according to an official quoted by Bloomberg last month. Many of those are in the scarce skills category and the backlog exists despite concerted efforts by government led by the Operation Vulindlela programme to drive implementation of policy that will substantially improve access to scarce skills visas. V.5297

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New regulations make it easier for foreigners to work in SA: Motsoaledi

The Trusted Employer Scheme allows employers to more easily get visas Home affairs minister Aaron Motsoaledi says the remote work visa is for people who are employed in other countries but want to perform that work remotely while staying in South Africa. File photo. Image: Trevor Samson Amendments to immigration regulations are important to make it easier for foreigners to obtain visas for tourism, business and work, and this will in turn promote investment in South Africa, said home affairs minister Aaron Motsoaledi on Tuesday. He made this remark during a media briefing in which he outlined proposed amendments to the regulations. V.5289

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Motsoaledi to redo work visa rules after ‘ill-advised’ premature gazetting

The home affairs minister says he will regazette the regulations next week and change some clauses that have caused concern Home affairs minister Aaron Motsoaledi will withdraw the new work visa regulations he gazetted on March 28, saying he was “ill-advised” to gazette them the day before the deadline for public comments on the draft version. This comes after a meeting at Nedlac last week in which questions were raised about the process and demands were made that the regulations be withdrawn V.5290

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Changes are needed in spousal visa protocols, Motsoaledi

Home Affairs Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi also discussed how small businesses can now make use of the new start-up visas for staff. Home Affairs Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi has highlighted a need to look at reworking spousal visa protocols after they contributed to a backlog at the department more so than any other visa category. Speaking to media on amended immigration regulations on Tuesday, Motsoaledi and other officials also spent time explaining how businesses particularly small businesses can benefit from new visa schemes. V.5291

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Vat remains a challenge for small businesses in tourism sector

The industry is ‘dominated by very small companies’ that cannot afford expensive tax consulting or accounting systems needed to cope with the complexities. Uncertainty around the value-added tax (Vat) treatment on services offered to foreign tour operators or foreign travellers continues to plague the local tourism industry. Inconsistencies in the approach adopted by the South African Revenue Service (Sars) and an onerous administrative burden on particularly smaller companies are making South Africa uncompetitive compared to the rest of the world.The South African Tourism Services Association (Satsa) unpacked the practical consequences of the Vat complexities for inbound operators and the implications of a tax court decision in the so-called Ken case during a recent webinar. V.5292

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Home Affairs visa backlog ballooning due to increase in notarial contracts

Motsoaledi was speaking at a media briefing in Hatfield, Pretoria, yesterday on the amended immigration regulations, over which he said there seemed to be some misunderstanding.He said as a result of the confusion, the department would be withdrawing the gazetted amendments to clear up the misconceptions and re-gazette them as early as next week.The minister admitted that his department was experiencing a backlog surrounding dependants, spouses and relatives’ visas being sought by foreign nationals who had been approved to come into the country after successfully obtaining employment. V.5293

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Long-delayed amendments to Immigration Act tabled

The Immigration Amendment Bill gives effect to a 2017 judgment of the Constitutional Court The department of home affairs has tabled the Immigration Amendment Bill to give effect to two Constitutional Court judgments related to the rights of illegal foreigners. One of the judgments dates back to 2017 and in the meantime the department of home affairs having failed to amend the principal act within the two years given by the court has been implementing the remedies laid down in the judgment. With parliament nearing the end of its term, there is no time for the bill to be processed before then, so it will have to be held over for the next parliament to deal with. The bill provides that an arrested foreigner must be informed of their rights in a language they understand on arrest or immediately thereafter. These rights include the right to be notified in writing of the deportation decision, the right to appeal such a decision and the right to make representations to a court. V.5286

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Court rules against dad daughter to spend holidays in America with mom and new husband

A Pretoria man, who didn’t want his 13-year-old daughter to travel with her mother and new husband, was informed that his consent was not necessary for the daughter to travel to America. The mother wished to travel to America with her daughter from March 18, to April 7. Going on the trip means the daughter will miss five days of school, a school netball tournament, and the North Gauteng netball trials. In addition, she will also miss extra-mural activities like netball, tennis and horse-riding lessons. Her father said he was concerned that their daughter will miss all these activities, especially the netball tournament. He refused to sign a consent form that would allow her to travel to the US, adding that he was acting in the best interest of the child. V.5287

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New visa regulations spark hope for remote workers in SA

There has been another positive stride forward for policy reform in the implementation of new visa regulations that will fundamentally alter the way work visas are provided in South Africa. The digital nomad visa allows foreigners to come and work remotely from South Africa if they earn more than R1 million, and the legal framework has now been put in place for a point-based system to replace the critical skills list. The criteria for the points system are due to be published by the end of April. Other changes include easing the requirements for police clearance certificates and other documents. V.5288

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