The Department of Home Affairs says that some spousal or relative visa applications take up to two years to process because of the documentation and claims that need to be verified. Responding to a written parliamentary Q&A this past week, Home Affairs minister Aaron Motsoaledi said that this is the current challenge being addressed by the department’s ‘Backlog Eradication Plan’, where 117 additional officials have been pulled in from the provinces to work through applications. The department is also looking for partners in the private sector to improve and speed up the verification processes.

“Applicants for relative and/or spousal permits wait as long as two years for their visa due to the requirement that their notarial agreements and other documents such as birth certificates, bank statements and marriage certificates submitted as proof of existence of a spousal or parental relationship are verified,” he said.

“In order to establish the legitimacy of any relative and/ or spousal relationship for a visa application, the adjudication process requires that such relationships should be verified for authenticity. This includes verification of the notarial agreements and other supporting documents submitted in support of such applications with the issuing authority.”

The minister said that in most cases, the contact number of the purported South African spouse and/ or relative is not provided, making it difficult to confirm with certainty that the South African citizen is indeed party to the relationship.

Downtime problems

Exacerbating the verification issues, Motsoaledi also flagged continued problems with system downtime at the department.

In January, the National Population Register (NPR) system experienced downtime due to a glitch. And the live capture systems also get hit with downtime during power interruptions or bulk verification processes where accessibility becomes limited.

The minister said the department is prioritising traffic between systems to manage the thresholds while it works with the State Information Technology Agency (SITA) to modernise its infrastructure.

SITA started the modernisation programme for all its data centre equipment, which hosts critical systems, and has upgraded mainframe

hardware, he said.

“Moreover, the Department and SITA are jointly developing an Application Programme Interface (API) to further manage and streamline the data verification process,” he said.

To improve service delivery, Motsoaledi said that the department is also expanding its service channels, including rolling out service kiosks, mobile offices, mobile apps and adding new offices at banks and malls while upgrading others.

In its 2024/25 annual performance plan, the department indicated that it would ‘modernise’ five new offices this year to adopt the live capture system, while also rolling out Smart ID and passport services to more shopping malls.

Extended hours

In a bid to speed up service delivery, the department announced that it would open its offices for five hours a day on Saturdays in April and May (between 6 April to 25 May 2024, excluding 27 April 2024).

Branches will be open from 08h00 to 13h00 for ID collection services, facilitation of new applications and issuance of Temporary Identity Certificates.

“Offices will also be resolving challenges pertaining to duplicates, amendments, rectifications and dead-alive cases with the required supporting documents,” the department said.

Mobile offices are also scheduled to return to deliver IDs in the remote areas where they took applications from. Local offices, working with stakeholders that include councillors, will communicate the dates, times and venues of those visits. Mobile offices will be used to support the identified local offices.

“In addition, clients can now book appointments to collect their Smart ID Cards and Green barcoded ID books before visiting offices by using the Branch Appointment Booking System (BABS). Alternatively, clients can simply visit our offices without making a booking,” it said.

“We invite people who have applied for their IDs, particularly young people who are first time applicants, to come to our offices to collect their documents. This initiative gives people more options to collect their enabling documents.” V.5283

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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