SA Migration International

News Articles

Home Affairs tightening rules around passport issuance to avoid fraud

Source: News24, 12/08/2022

•The Department of Home Affairs is making changes to passport applications and collections to avoid fraud.
• Only the person who applied for a passport can collect it and activate it with fingerprints.
• The department has also introduced a transit visa for Pakistani and Bangladeshi nationals.
The Department of Home Affairs says it is tightening rules around passport applications and collections to stop fraud.
On Thursday, Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said fraud linked to South African passports was causing it to lose its integrity.
`In recent months, the South African passport has been in the news for the wrong reasons. Firstly, on 24 March 2022, in our Krugersdorp office, the nation saw us apprehending a Pakistani national and arresting him with some South African citizens and corrupt Home Affairs officials. All these people were working together to defraud the SA passport.
`Secondly and immediately thereafter, the story of `Lebogang from Bangladesh` made headlines all over the media, including on social media,` he said.
Motsoaledi added locals implicated in the two corruption cases were out on bail.
`They are on bail; most of them are our citizens. We, unfortunately, can`t disown them. They were outright stupid,` he said.
He said fraud involving the passport had consequences for the country.
Motsoaledi said:
What people don`t realise are the serious consequences and hardships that the country suffers when its passports are defrauded in this manner.
`The main one being that the integrity of the South African passport will be put into question, causing many hardships for South African travellers. It is for this reason that this state of affairs cannot be allowed to continue,` he said.
Motsoaledi added that the department was implementing several steps to secure the passport, saying it was changing the rules around passport issuance.
Passports can now only be collected from the office they were applied at and only by the person who applied for them.
He said this was so the document could be activated by the applicants` fingerprints. Parents who apply for their children will be the only ones allowed to pick up the passport and activate them with their fingerprints.
`We must strongly warn that any passport collected using whatever method other than the ones announced today will not be activated and hence will be of no use to the holder.
`We are aware that this will inconvenience some frequent travellers and some busy people who might not have time, but we are appealing that everybody has to be prepared to readily pay this price for the integrity of our passports,` he said.
Motsoaledi added the department would not be announcing the internal steps it was taking so as not to alert corrupt officials, saying it would be making an announcement related to the technology soon.
Transit visas
The minister said because of fraud and corruption linked to Pakistani and Bangladeshi travellers` transit through South Africa, the department would enforce a transit visa on them.
`The decision was informed by recent incidents wherein passengers from the two countries were caught attempting to enter into South Africa illegally by sneaking in through fire hydrant passages at the airport while on the way to the transit lounge to continue to other countries.
`In so doing, they try to evade immigration and other law enforcement officers at the port of entry, thus undermining the security and sovereignty of the state,` he said.
Motsoaledi added transit visas were a way `to stop people from undermining our systems`.
www.samigration.com

Search

Latest News

Due to system downtime and load-shedding, the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) lost nearly 141,000 hours of Smart ID application and production time between the 2019/20 and 2022/23 financial years. Minister Aaron Motsoaledi revealed this figure in a recent response to questions raised in Parliament by Democratic Alliance MP Adrian Roos. Motsoaledi provided a breakdown of smart ID production and application hours lost to technical difficulties and load-shedding per province for each financial year from 2019/2020. These disruptions hit home Affairs offices in the Eastern Cape the hardest, with over 34,000 hours to rotational power cuts and system downtime. Mpumalanga offices lost the next-highest number of hours at 17... Read more...

In recent years, South Africa has seen a significant influx of immigrants from various African countries, as well as other parts of the world. This has raised important questions about the country`s immigration policies and their impact on job creation for both locals and immigrants. The South African immigration system, like many other countries, is a complex and ever-evolving process that aims to balance the country`s economic needs with its social and cultural interests. Let`s take a closer look at how this system intersects with job creation in South Africa. The South African government implemented the Immigration Act of 2002, which outlines the country`s immigration policies and procedures. Under this act, foreigners are required to obtain a visa or permit to enter, work, or study in South Africa. The type of visa or permit required depends on the intended purpose of the individual`s visit and their country of origin.... Read more...

The DA has been inundated with complaints that the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) systems are offline, resulting in long queues and delayed processing of documents. Through questions posed to the Minister, the DA can now reveal that the DHA has lost over 77 years’ worth of working hours due to system downtime and load-shedding from 2019 to date. Concerningly, this data only relates to hours lost for the application of smart IDs, meaning decades more of working hours could have been additionally lost in other spheres such as passport or visa applications. The lost hours are largely due to system downtime, surpassing load-shedding. In the 2022/2023 financial year, where we experienced extensive load-shedding, system downtime was the cause of 41 691 hours lost (17 years), whereas load-shedding caused around 9 322 hours lost (4 years) at DHA civic offices on the production of smart IDs.... Read more...

JOHANNESBURG - Minister of Home Affairs Aaron Motsoaledi said that while the White Paper on Citizenship, Immigration and Refugee Protection had been gazetted, there were amendments that needed to be made to the legislation before it could be passed into law. The White Paper is proposing an overhaul of the country`s migration laws, with the aim of tightening rules around allowing migrants into the country.... Read more...

Highly skilled professionals are leaving South Africa to move to other countries, while the local economy faces a skills shortage. Data from The Outlier revealed that there were just over 900,000 South Africans living abroad in 2020. This number has increased steadily over the past 20 years, from 500,000 in 2000, according to Stats SA’s Migration Profile Report for South Africa 2023. Of these 900,000 people, 7 out of 10 are living in either Europe or Oceania. In particular, Australia and New Zealand have seen a large growth in South African residents. In 2020, around 273,000 South Africans were living in those two countries, more than double the 106,000 who lived there in 2000. The UK remains still the top destination for South Africans who leave the country.... Read more...

Document proposes overhauling the Citizenship Act, the Refugees Act and the Immigration Act and a review of the international treaty on refugee protection Home affairs minister Aaron Motsoaledi says the cabinet has approved a white paper overhauling the country’s immigration laws after “robust engagements” that resulted in “wide support” of the document’s policy positions.... Read more...

Minister Aaron Motsoaledi’s indifference to the plight of those affected by his decisions is appalling In the tumultuous seas of immigration law, where uncertainty looms and families are left adrift in bureaucratic limbo, the department of home affairs has emerged as a sinking ship. As a director of a firm of immigration attorneys I’ve witnessed first-hand the dire consequences of the department’s negligence and incompetence. Today, I raise my voice not just as an attorney but as a concerned citizen, urging for a radical overhaul to salvage what remains of our immigration system. We have tirelessly fought battles in the courtroom against home affairs’ disregard for agreed-upon time frames. Countless cases have landed on our desks, each one a testament to the systemic failures plaguing the department. We’ve seen cases where contempt applications were the only recourse, as the department brazenly ignored court orders.... Read more...

Home Affairs Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi has said the public has shown great support for the final White Paper on citizenship, immigration and refugee protection which appeared in the Government Gazette on Wednesday. Briefing the media, he addressed what he saw as a long-overdue need to replace an outdated Citizenship Act, as well as enact proposed changes to existing legislation.... Read more...

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’.... Read more...

outh Africa seeks highly skilled individuals to live and work in SA. SA Migration Services will provide professional assistance to arrange your work visa for you if you qualify. Work Visas are regulated in terms of Section 19, Regulation 18 and items 18 (1), 19(2), 20, 21 and 22, of Schedule A.... Read more...