South African Visas and Permit Agent

17/08/2023

New visa nightmare for South Africa



South Africa’s immigration landscape has changed drastically over the past 18 months, bringing with it a host of new hurdles that have become a nightmare for businesses to navigate.

Now it appears that the Department of Home Affairs is rejecting visas for seemingly frivolous – or outright incorrect – reasons

Individuals, HR professionals and businesses looking to draw critical skills have always faced an uphill battle with work visa applications – dealing with long wait times and a complex application process.

However, in the past year and a half, even more roadblocks and headaches have been introduced.

“While most of these changes have been to rectify the issues within the Department of Home Affairs (DHA), it has resulted in lengthy processing times and mounting rejections for frivolous reasons.

With the current critical skills shortage and the need for companies to retain or gain specialist talent through the various work visa categories, the country can ill-afford to let the chaos sink in.

11/08/2023

The Department of Home Affairs is continuing to open selected offices on Saturdays to increase access to services mainly for clients who are unable to visit their offices on weekdays.

The extended service is applicable to certain offices and this Saturday 12 August 2023, the following offices will be open from 8am to 1pm:

the new Home Affairs Menlyn (Menlyn Park Shopping Centre, Pretoria, Gauteng);

Mmabatho Office (Motswedi House, Dr James Moroka Dr, Montshiwa Unit 2, North West)

and Mankwe Office (3, Mogwase Complex, Station Road, Mogwase, North West).

The Department will communicate when other offices will be open on the various Saturdays.

“We encourage clients to take advantage of the extended hours on Saturdays to collect documents they have applied for,” the department said.

10/08/2023

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07/07/2023

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15/04/2023

https://youtu.be/v7rrnvWV3tA

JOHANNESBURG - Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi can't understand the uproar over Zimbabwe Exemption Permits.

The system is set to come to an end at the end of June.

But several organisations are challenging the termination in court.

Motsoaledi says the intention is not to kick people out of the country but to standardise visa processes.

"The stories that we are chasing Zimbabweans away is what I read from the media and hear from other people.

"We're not chasing them, we are saying, all we are saying is this thing must come to an end," he said.

Home Affairs Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi says he doesn't understand the uproar over the ending of the Zimbabwe Exemption Permits.

12/04/2023

Types of Temporary Residency Visas

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General information about temporary residence visas



The objectives of the Immigration Act, 2002 (Act No 13 of 2002), which was implemented on 7 April 2003, include:

Facilitating and simplifying the issuance of temporary residence visas and permanent residence permits.

Promoting economic growth by facilitating foreign investment and attracting exceptionally skilled and qualified foreigners to South Africa.

Promoting tourism to South Africa.



Documents required to apply for a long-term temporary residence visa, except medical treatment visa

The following general documentation must be submitted with all temporary residence visa applications on form DHA-1738, except in the event of an application for a medical treatment visa:

A passport valid for no less than 30 days after the expiry of intended visit

A photocopy of all temporary residence visas endorsed in the passport

Processing fee

1 recent passport size colour photograph

A yellow fever vaccination certificate (if the applicant has travelled through or intends travelling through the yellow fever belt area)

Police clearance certificates in respect all countries where the applicant has resided for a period of twelve months or longer since having attained the age of 18 years.

Medical and radiology reports (radiology reports are not required for children under the age of 12 years and pregnant women)

An unabridged birth certificate

Proof of custody or adoption of a minor, where applicable

Consent from the parents of a minor, where applicable

A marriage certificate, where applicable

Proof of a spousal relationship by means of an affidavit, where applicable

A divorce decree or proof of legal separation, where applicable

A death certificate in respect of a late spouse, where applicable

Supporting documents, in addition those mentioned above, are applicable to every category of temporary residence visa. These supporting documents are listed on the DHA-1738 application form under each visa category

29/12/2022

In order to make an application for a permanent residency permit, applicants must first submit representation to the Minister of Home Affairs motivating why he or she should be declared not to be a prohibited person or an undesirable person.
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20/12/2022

Home Affairs is trying to clear a backlog of 56,543 visas – which may be done by June 2024

South Africa's Department of Home Affairs is struggling with a major visa backlog.

The backlog includes more than 56,000 applications across all visa categories.

Home Affairs hopes to have cleared these by June 2024.

In the meantime, average turnaround times for visas have grown far beyond what the department's performance plan dictates.

South Africa's Department of Home Affairs (DHA) is battling its way through a vast backlog of visa applications, which it hopes to have cleared by June 2024.

Home Affairs is drowning in outstanding visa applications. This backlog, made worse by the department's disastrous decision to centralise the adjudication of long-term visas, has led to longer processing times, frustrated foreign applicants, and missed work opportunities.

This seemingly never-ending backlog has caused the DHA to issue consecutive blanket extensions to visa and waiver applicants, with the most recent deadline given as 31 March 2023.

Under fierce pressure, the DHA has been accused of unjustly rejecting applications. "Now, it seems that Home Affairs officials have clear KPIs to adjudicate X number [around 20] applications per day in November. "This leads to a very, very high number of rejections."

Minister of Home Affairs, Aaron Motsoaledi, there's no quick fix to clear the visa backlog.

"The current backlog across all visa categories is 56,543," said Motsoaledi in response to a question posed by DA MP Thembisile Khanyile.

"The department envisages to have cleared the current backlog by June 2024 for all categories of visas."

In the meantime, the turnaround times for visa applications have grown far beyond those listed in the department's Annual Performance Plan (APP).

The turnaround time for applications for critical skills visas is four weeks, according to the DHA's APP. Currently, the average response time is four to 10 weeks.

Similarly, it should, according to the APP, take Home Affairs eight weeks to process business and general work visas. Currently, the average response time is eight to 14 weeks

28/11/2022

Birth registration:
How SA’s legislation harms foreign national children

Johannesburg - Birth registration is a fundamental human right as it triggers the ability to access other rights. South Africa’s regulatory framework is premised on the fact that one’s residence status determines whether a child’s birth can be registered or not.

The registration of children born to foreign nationals, who are not permanent residents or refugees, is subject to the provision of valid documentation.

Senior Associate in the Pro Bono and Human Rights practice at law firm Cliffe Dekker Hoffmeyr, Elgene Roos, said the consequences of not being documented can be far-reaching and result in a child not being able to access basic services that they are entitled to under the Constitution.

“The current legislative framework does not cater to children born to undocumented foreign nationals or even undocumented South African citizens who do not have IDs as a consequence of the apartheid regime. The child's birth will then go undocumented,” she said.

And while the law does not speak to a situation like this, however, practically the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) will most likely demand that the parents wait for permits to be issued and once they have the permits they can, at a Home Affairs office, register their child's birth. Should the permits be issued after 30 days from when the child was born, the parents will have to apply for late birth registration where a fee is payable. In an instance where one parent is documented, birth registration can still be problematic

“This is a tricky question because the law and courts say one thing but DHA implements the law in different ways. I refer you to the Centre for Child Law versus Director General of Home Affairs case. This matter came before court where a South African father was unable to register the birth of his child because the mother was undocumented and did not have valid documentation as was required by the Regulations to the Births & Deaths Registration Act. The department refused to register the child's birth because the mother's documents were not in order,” Roos said.

When it comes to children, a mother automatically assumes parental responsibility. Even in terms of the Children's Act, the mother is automatically conferred with parental responsibility, whereas a father's parental responsibility only kicks in once he makes a positive contribution toward the child.

“DHA will be happy to register a child's birth when the mother is present and has valid documentation. However, they will not do the same where it is only the father who seeks to register their child's birth, more especially where the parents are not married,” she said.

Roos said the issue centred on the father's right to register their children and declaring certain sections and regulations of the Births and Deaths Registration Act as unconstitutional and invalid.

The Constitutional Court noted that there were competing and conflicting interpretations of certain provisions of the act, and noted that even where one provision allows an unmarried father to register their child's birth, another provision only allows a father to do so where the mother is present and gives her consent to do so. The Constitutional Court declared the provisions in question unconstitutional and gave DHA 24 months to remedy the defect. As it stands, unmarried fathers are allowed to register their children's birth without the mother present.

“This case was a huge success. However, DHA in recent months has created additional barriers for fathers who seek to register the birth of their children, and that is that they require DNA tests to be done before accepting an application. This is deemed as a barrier because of the high cost of a DNA test that not everyone can afford it, and the delay created by needing these tests performed,” she said
International instruments like the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child expressly recognise the right of every child to be registered and to acquire a nationality. So does the Constitution.

The law, domestic and international, recognises the impact non-birth registration has on a child. The fact that birth registration in SA is contingent on the parents having valid documentation contravenes international law as birth registration is not seen from the viewpoint that it is actually the right of every child. Therefore, a parent's nationality and/or immigration status should not be relevant when it comes to having the child's birth registered.

“There is this huge misconception that if you are born in South Africa you are automatically a citizen. That’s wrong and it’s not the way our law works. If you are born to foreign nationals, you assume the same nationality as your parents,” Roos said.

Despite promises from DHA to comment, the department did not reply at the time of going to print.

16/11/2022

The Department of Home Affairs will appear before Parliament to answer questions about statelessness and assistance to refugees, as well as issues concerning DNA testing.

This follows the committee chair’s decision that they will have to respond to questions put to them by Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR). This emerged on Tuesday during a meeting of Parliament’s Home Affairs oversight committee, with LHR, on migrant issues.

Lindokuhle Mdabe, head of migrant and refugee projects at LHR’s Johannesburg office, said they wanted the Home Affairs department to look at several issues affecting migrants in South Africa.

Mdabe said a new system dealing with asylum seekers was introduced earlier this year, but that LHR experiences revealed, among other issues, a lack of accessibility, lack of internet access and language barriers. There were also two-month waiting periods for interviews and a shortage of interpreters.

Mdabe said the two-month waiting periods meant refugees and migrants were rendered “vulnerable to detention because of their [lack of] documents”.

Mdabe said there was no public information available indicating the number of people arrested and detained for purposes of deportation; the number of people deported from South Africa, and the number of people arrested and charged for contravening section 49 of the Immigration Act.

LHR wanted the Home Affairs department to make this information available, dating back three years.

Stateless persons and DNA testing

During her presentation, Thandeka Chauke, head of the Statelessness Project at the LHR’s Refugee and Migrant Rights Programme, raised the issue of statelessness — where a person is not recognised as a citizen of any country.

Chauke told the committee there were about 10,000 stateless people in South Africa, including unrecognised South Africans and migrants.

Another issue she touched on was the cost of DNA testing for birth registrations, which could lead to statelessness.

Chauke said DNA testing in SA was “arbitrary, discriminatory and exclusionary”.

She mentioned a departmental circular which stipulated that where a Home Affairs official has “reasonable suspicion” regarding the paternity of a child, proof of paternity is required — in the form of DNA tests — if one parent is not a South African citizen

This, she said, was a form of discrimination against children born to non-South Africans. Chauke also pointed out that, at R750, the test was expensive for poor families.

The LHR recommended the department ensure birth registrations of all children born in South Africa, regardless of parents’ documentation or immigration status. Arbitrary or discriminatory barriers to birth registrations, such as expensive DNA testing, needed to be removed.

Responding to the LHR, ANC MP Kavilan Pillay said DNA testing was not discriminatory as South African nationals also had to pay for such tests. EFF MP, Thapelo Mogale, asked the LHR what was the best way to deal with the issue of DNA testing as the pricing was “unfair to those who cannot afford it”.

Several MPs said the department needed to respond to the issues raised by the LHR.

Committee chair, Moses Chabane, said the department would need to respond at a parliamentary meeting that remained to be scheduled.

12/11/2022

PERMANENT RESIDENCE PERMIT

Residency-on-other-grounds permits

This category of permits applies to foreigners who:

are in possession of a permanent work offer in South Africa, or

have exceptional skills and qualifications

intend to establish a business in South Africa

qualify as Refugees in terms of Section 27(c) of the Refugees Act

qualify as retired persons

are financially independent

are relatives (biologically or judicially adopted) of a South African citizen/permanent residence permit holder



In addition to completing and submitting Form BI-947, you must also provide the following documentation:

A full set of fingerprints

A marriage certificate / Proof of spousal relationship, if applicable

A divorce decree / proof of legal separation, if applicable

Proof of custody of a minor, if applicable

A death certificate for a late spouse, if applicable

The consent of parents in the case of minors

Proof of judicial adoption of a minor, if applicable

Police clearance certificates for all countries in which you resided for a period of one year or longer since your 18th birthday

A valid temporary residency permit (if already in South Africa).

Additional documents are applicable to the different immigration categories and these are listed in the permanent residence application Form BI-947

09/10/2022

Police can use e-system to run checks on foreign nationals without detaining them - Aaron Motsoaledi

Home Affairs minister Aaron Motsoaledi says police don't need to arrest foreign nationals or use discriminatory methods to ascertain their status in the country.

Motsoaledi said this while addressing Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs, on the backlog in permit appeals for asylum seekers and refugees earlier this week.

The minister said police have the right to ask immigrants for documentation.

He said this does not mean that foreign nationals must carry documents, because police can access the 24-hour national register

We believe that all law enforcement officers must know that this is something they can do on the spot. It's a pity if anyone is arrested and for home affairs officials to come and verify the documents manually. It should not happen that way," he said
Motsoaledi said the backlog of appeal applications by foreign nationals rejected for refugee or asylum permits put the system under pressure.

He said the department would clear the backlog in four years.

Motsoaledi said the government needed to scrap the "bureaucratic ladder of never-ending appeals", which he complained was being exploited, at times, by ringleaders who do not qualify for international protection.

"The whole immigration system needs to be overhauled... our bureaucratic ladder doesn't help anybody, it just complicates our lives, and that is why we are going to change it," said the minister.

05/10/2022

Johannesburg – The Department of Home Affairs has implemented measures to reduce the high number fraudulent marriages.

Home Affairs Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, in response to questions tabled in Parliament by the IFP’s Petros Sithole, said 553 fraudulent marriages had been reversed since January 1, 2022.

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He said most of the fraudulent marriages involved foreign nationals marrying South Africans for convenience purposes.

According to him, the measures to reduce the number of fraudulent marriages included the introduction of a new marriage register form (DHA-30) which required photographs and thumb prints of the couple for verification purposes.

“The department requires prospective couples to make an appointment with the nearest front office to verify their marital status and to subject themselves for brief interviews prior to registration of the marriage,” Motsoaledi

He warned marriage was a legally binding contract and couples should be aware of the consequences of getting married.

“Couples are thereby encouraged to seek legal advice regarding the benefits and disadvantages of accepting marriage, regardless of it being to a foreigner,” he said.

According to the department, on the day of the marriage a couple must present the following documents to the person officiating at the ceremony:

Identity documents (of both people).

If a foreign national is marrying a South African citizen, the non-citizen should present a valid passport as well as a completed BI-31 form (Declaration for the Purpose of Marriage, letter of no impediment to confirm that he/she is not married in country of origin).

If a minor is getting married, written consent is needed in the form of a DHA32 filled in by both parents/legal guardian or a DHA34 form from the Commissioner of Child Welfare or a judge. In the case where the marriage is between minors under the age of 18 (boys) or 15 (girls), written consent from the minister of Home Affairs is also required

If either of the people who are getting married are divorced, the final decree of divorce should be provided.

If either of them are widowed, the deceased spouse’s death certificate must be submitted.

22/09/2022

More than 130 000 asylum-seekers waiting for appeal applications to be processed, Parliament told

One of the contributors to the backlog is the high inflow of economic migrants.

Home Affairs Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi has clarified that his department is battling a backlog in appeals for refugees and asylum-seekers.

Motsoaledi briefed Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs on Tuesday.

“There’s a common believe that Home Affairs has got a backlog on the processing of all refugees and asylum-seekers in the country and that is not necessarily [true]. We don’t have a backlog on people who are coming in for the first time to apply for asylum,” he told the committee.

Motsoaledi explained that the appeals process caused backlogs in the system.

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“The backlog is people who have been rejected and are on appeal. In other words, people who come here asking for asylum or refugee, they get processed and after processing whatever the [outcome] is, they start an appeal process, which I must state, in our country is over-elaborate in our countr

So for that reason there is a very big backlog on that because it is an unending appeal process,” the minister continued.

The minister further indicated that government was working on a plan with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on how to deal with the backlog.

The Department of Home Affairs operates five Refugee Reception Offices, which were closed for two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic, across five provinces – including the Cape Town centre which is awaiting the completion of a new office.

Economic migrants

According to Refugee Appeals Authority of South Africa (RAASA), which is responsible for adjudicating asylum applications on appeal, one of the contributors to the backlog is the high inflow of economic migrants.

This is because current legislation did not make provisions for economic migrants, thus, the appeals were stacking up.

Furthermore, International Treaties and Conventions on asylum seekers and refugees does not have legislation to
deal with enomic migrants either.

As a result of that, everyone who’s a failed asylum seeker in South Africa goes through a process of appeal. So it is what we can call an unending bureaucratic ladder.

“Everyone who is an economic migrant, if you are rejected on the first leg, you proceed to the second leg, up until the last leg,” RAASA chairperson Zilpha Raphesu said.

Approximately 133 582 asylum-seekers are still waiting the processing of their appeal application as per the National Immigration Information System.

29/08/2022

Home Affairs minister Aaron Motsoaledi says that his department will propose new legislation to make it possible for people as young as 10 to get an ID card in South Africa.

This is one of the measures he wants to implement to strengthen passport security in the country.

Speaking at a National Council of Provinces on Thursday (25 August), the minister said that Home Affairs wants more stringent border security and additional requirements for receiving important identification and travel documents in the country.

One of the mechanisms to manage fraud is to have more people on Home Affairs database, he said.

To achieve this, the minister said the department will propose new legislation to make it possible for people to get an ID at the age of 10 rather than wait until the age of 16.

The minister lamented that South Africa’s passport security has become a ‘laughing stock’, with several high-profile incidents involving fraudulent documents coming to light.

Motsoaeledi said that the country’s passport was once respected globally. However, the security of the passport is under doubt, and ‘people laugh and make jokes’ when they see how the processes have been circumvented.

The minister noted instances of fraudulent documents being found in the possession of Bangladeshi, Pakistani and Benin nationals, which has devalued the document internationally.

As part of the department’s fight against fraud, the minister said that Home Affairs is shifting the mechanics of the document to an Automatic Biometric Information System (ABIS), which will extend the current system to take into account a person’s fingerprint, photo, palm print, facial recognition as well as iris scans.

Earlier in August, Motsoaledi announced that further security measures were being implemented to protect the security of the passport.

The first of these measures is the end of transferrable and third-party collections and a new activation process that can only be completed by the applicant.

Motsoaledi said that passport applications currently allow for the document to be collected at any office in the country if applicants request that it be transferred. It also allows for the passport to be collected by a third party.

29/08/2022

Zimbabweans at risk of deportation prepare to take on banks, big corporates

Hundreds of thousands fear losing their jobs and having their bank accounts closed when exemption permit scheme ends in December.

Three separate court cases are asking the courts to set aside the minister’s decision to suspend the ZEP system (all three are likely to be heard in October)

Lawyers representing the permit holders say they are preparing to haul banks to court to prevent them from closing the accounts of any ZEP holder.

“Sadly, we have to go to court to protect our rights,” says Advocate Simba Chitando, who is representing the ZEP Holders Association (Zepha).

“This is the largest fraud ever committed by an African government on the citizens of another African country, and it must be brought to an end.

“One of the reasons cited by the Department of Home Affairs for suspending the ZEP system is the cost of administering the system. It says it only had R15 million available for exemption permits, yet Zimbabweans have paid hundreds of millions of rands to Home Affairs to obtain these permits,” says Chitando.

“Home Affairs has been bilking Zimbabweans, most of them poor, for more than a decade.”

Also targeted for legal action is VFS Global, owned by one of the world’s largest private equity firms, US-based Blackstone.

VFS Global is responsible for processing the exemption permits on behalf of Home Affairs.

Attorneys representing Zepha have written to VFS Global asking it to account for the number of applications it processed under the ZEP system, and its predecessor, the Zimbabwe Special Dispensation Permit (ZSP).

Zepha estimates that close to half a billion rand would have been paid over by Zimbabweans applying for these zep

“We will not hesitate to take legal action against Blackstone, in the United States, using lawyers based there,” adds Chitando.

“We intend to mobilise civil society in the US to expose the practice of never-ending expensive applications and extensions, instead of simply providing ZEP holders with permanent residence permits.”

ZEP holders have started receiving notices from FNB that their permits will no longer be valid after 31 December 2022, and must be replaced with a ‘mainstream’ visa after the Department of Home Affairs decided to end the ZEP system.

The notice does not explain what will happen to those FNB customers who are ZEP holders and do not qualify for a ‘mainstream’ visa, though many fear their accounts will be closed, thereby throttling their ability to continue living and working in SA.

The ZEP system has been in operation in various forms since 2009, allowing Zimbabweans to live, work, study and conduct business in SA. It was introduced to legitimise the status of Zimbabweans in SA, many of whom fled the political and economic chaos at home.

Last year Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi announced the ZEP scheme would be terminated at the end of 2021. He then extended the termination period by a year to allow an estimated 178 000 permit holders to apply for alternative visas.

ZEP representatives in SA believe Home Affairs is responding to and fuelling xenophobia, already at dangerously high levels after massive job losses brought on by Covid lockdowns.

Motsoaledi’s decision to suspend the scheme is being challenged in three separate court cases brought by the Helen Suzman Foundation, the Zimbabwean Exemption Permit Holders Association (Zepha), and the Zimbabwe Immigration Federation.

All three are asking the courts to set aside the minister’s decision to suspend the ZEP system, pointing to the disastrous impact it will have on the region if potentially hundreds of thousands of people are forced to repatriate to a country with one of the highest unemployment rates in the world. These cases are likely to be heard in October.

One of the reasons cited by Home Affairs for suspending the permit scheme is to ease unemployment in SA – though this is refuted by the Zimbabwe Immigration Federation, which argues in its court papers that the 178 000 ZEP holders constitute just 0.3% of SA’s population of about 60 million.

There is some evidence of back-tracking by Home Affairs, after some ZEP holders received letters from the department’s director-general Livhuwani Makhode that ZEP ‘waiver applications’ are being reconsidered by the minister pending legal advice.

“It has come to our attention that the banks have been weaponised by the government to enforce the shakedown of ZEP holders, who risk their accounts being frozen if they do not apply for visas many do not qualify for, because Home Affairs has made documentation all but impossible,” says Chitando.

FNB’s response

“FNB is monitoring developments regarding the status of Zimbabwean Exemption Permits (ZEPs) and communicates regularly to customers who may be affected.

“Our latest communication to customers who are ZEP holders aims to inform them about the most recent directive from the Department of Home Affairs and the options available to them.

“The term ‘mainstream visas’ in our customer communication generally refers to visas that are prescribed under the Immigration Act,” the bank states.

“We are committed to helping our customers to ensure that their bank accounts are used and managed in accordance with the relevant laws. Our customers can also contact us directly if they have any questions or need assistance with their accounts.