Home Affairs minister Aaron Motsoaledi caused some confusion this week by claiming that his department was not exacerbating South Africa’s skills crisis because there was no backlog of visas.
This comment came just a few weeks after the minister told parliament that the department was sitting with a backlog of over 74,000 visa applications that would only be cleared up by mid-2024.
In an interview this week, Motsoaledi dismissed criticism that his department is causing a skills crisis in the country by failing to process work-permit applications and said it’s becoming a “scapegoat” for the failures of business.
The minister said there’s no backlog of critical-skills applications and said his department is working expeditiously to process requests in the pipeline.
According to Marisa Jacobs, an immigration specialist at Xpatweb, the good news is that the minister is correct in saying there is currently no skills or work visa backlog.
Jacobs said the department has been fast-tracking applications that have been correctly submitted and are fully compliant.
“In stark contrast to the waiting periods for other categories, work visas and study visas are processed within four weeks by the Department of Home Affairs Head Office,” she said.
However, this does not mean that all is well with this category of visa, she said.
“Work visas submitted at the South African High Commissions and Embassies abroad are subject to their own processing times, and we are seeing inconsistent processing times depending on country of submission,” said Jacobs.
This is amplified by many offices with a new rotation of officials in the immigration seat still settling in, combined with high volumes of applications pushing the processing times over the estimated period, causing frustration.
“There is also a higher rate of rejection, where Head Office processes the application and this means that the applicant must submit an appeal, causing a backlog on a work visa of more than 12 months,” she said.
The same can be said for waiver applications in support of a General Work Visa application, where the processing

time is set at a minimum of 12 months.
“In summary, while work visas are prioritised, and we are consistently seeing good processing times �` but there are a variety of exceptions, and this fuels frustration among expats,” Jacobs said.
Visa chaos is still there
Regarding the backlog of tens of thousands of visas, the bad news is that there is still a massive backlog, and several categories are impacted.
These include Permanent Residency applications, Waivers, Appeals, Retired person visas, and visitor’s visas for spouses and dependents.
While not related to work visas, these categories are experiencing an “unprecedented backlog”, where applicants can end up waiting 18 months or longer.
“These applicants are often deeply personally impacted by the backlog, and following a legal route is often the only way to get a legally correct outcome,” Jacobs said.
Motsoaledi told parliament this month that his department has developed a “backlog eradication plan” which aims to have the backlogs cleared by June 2024.
“The plan aims to move the older Temporary Residency Visas applications from 2022 concurrently with the current applications of 2023. This will be done by splitting the temporary residence visa team into two,” he said.
The same approach is being implemented for Permanent Residence Permits, he said.
“The plan includes the utilisation of current capacity in the Immigration Branch supported by the additional officials from other branches, including those in provinces. It also includes those officials who have returned from the Foreign Missions after serving their four-year deployment term.”
Other options to supplement existing capacity and resources are also being looked at and may be implemented should it be deemed necessary to do so to support the eradication plan.
“The Department is also reviewing the immigration permitting delegations as well as Standard Operating Procedures,” he said. V.5082

Australia’s plan to cap the number of new international students to 270,000 starting in 2025 has sparked widespread concern within the education sector. However, the proposal, which still needs parliamentary approval, is unlikely to have a significant impact on students from African countries planning to study in Australia. The National Planning Level (NPL) for 2025, which includes the limit on the number of international student enrolments, aims to reduce overall migration to pre-pandemic levels. V.5595
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Bethuel Ngobeni, Dumisa Moyo, Nhlanhla Magwaca, Moseki Sechele, Thabo Sechele and Khudzai Mashaya appear in court to face illicit gold mining charges. Image: Thapelo Morebudi An investigation into illicit gold mining has uncovered how one of the accused obtained a fraudulent identity document, 12 years after arriving in SA. V.5594
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• Lesotho has rekindled moves to implement localisation rules for certain types of businesses dominated by foreigners. • Indians, Chinese and South Africans dominate the 47 reserved businesses. • SA firms will be under pressure to use local distributors, and not contract Basotho labour via SA-based agents. V.5587
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Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber said that plans were underway for the Department of Home Affairs to switch from working manually to digitally. CAPE TOWN - Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber said that long queues, off-line systems, and paper-based applications at department offices would soon be a thing of the past. Schreiber said that plans were underway for the Department of Home Affairs to switch from working manually to digitally. V.5588
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‘There are various pathways and provisions in the law that recognise that people should not be stateless, and we are failing to ensure that these people have papers,’ says Global Movement Against Statelessness’ Christy Chitengu. Christy Chitengu was born in South Africa and regards herself as a South African, despite her parents being Zimbabwean. V.5589
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Inspection at workplaces set to increase Newly appointed home affairs minister Leon Schreiber will increase inspections at restaurants, spaza shops, farms and mines to heighten the crackdown on undocumented workers in these industries. Schreiber said while SA welcomes those who contribute to the country legally through skills, investments and as tourists, it needed to do more to combat illegal immigration. V.5592
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CAPE TOWN - Minister of Home Affairs Leon Schreiber says since March, his department already reported 109 cases of document fraud to its counter corruption unit. Three officials have been convicted and sentenced during this same period. V.5593
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Key Takeaways • As of August 28, Canada has banned temporary residents on visitor visas from applying for work permits within the country. • The policy`s early termination is part of IRCC`s efforts to manage the influx of temporary residents and combat immigration fraud. • Starting September 26, 2024, Canada will cut the number of temporary foreign workers by about 65,000. Canada has recently launched a new policy that prohibits temporary residents on visitor visas from applying for work permits within the country, a decision that significantly impacts their ability to work and stay in Canada. V.5583
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The United Kingdom has long been a favoured destination for South Africans seeking work or residency, thanks to shared language, time zones, and historical ties. However, according to JP Breytenbach from Breytenbachs Immigration Consultants, the profile of South African migrants is changing. “There is a significant increase in business migration, with companies aiming to expand into the UK as a gateway to Europe or the US,” he shared in an interview with Biznews. Many of these South Africans businesses feel they have reached a ceiling in their local markets or are tech entrepreneurs who believe their products are not yet viable in South Africa. This year, new UK immigration rules are set to take effect as the country seeks to limit net migration. V.5584
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Applicants who prefer hard copies of ZEP waiver letters will still be able to collect them at branches. Leon Schreiber, Minister of Home Affairs, during the swearing-in ceremony of the new national executive members at Cape Town International Convention Centre on 3 July, 2024 in Cape Town. Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber has announced that the first batch of Zimbabwean Exemption Permit (ZEP) waiver applications has been processed. ZEP holders will no longer need to go to Home Affairs branches to find out the outcome of their applications. The department will be sending them out digitally. V.5585
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