A new digital visa scheme piloted by the home affairs department has drawn more than 11,000 tourists from China and India to South Africa in three months, with officials hailing it as a breakthrough for tourism and job creation.

Home affairs minister Leon Schreiber announced that since the launch of the Trusted Tour Operator Scheme (TTOS) in late February, a total of 11,144 tourists have obtained digital visas to visit South Africa.
The scheme, which operates in partnership with 65 tour operators, is aimed at addressing the long-standing visa challenges faced by travellers from two of the world's most populous countries.

“It is important to note that TTOS is still just a small-scale proof of concept,” said Schreiber. “But after three months of operation it is already clear that it has been a resounding success.”
According to the minister, the initiative has seen consistent growth in visa applications, with the daily average increasing from 50 in March to 135 in April and 210 in May.

“These are tourists who otherwise would not have come to South Africa, given the challenges previously experienced with obtaining visas for tour groups from China and India,” said Schreiber.

Operation Vulindlela, which monitors progress in key structural reforms, found one job is created for every 13 tourists visiting the country. Based on this ratio, TTOS has already helped create an estimated 857 new tourism jobs since February.
Previously, tourists from China and India were required to travel long distances to apply for visas, often receiving outcomes too late to travel. Under TTOS, visa outcomes are delivered digitally within hours through a secure online platform.

Schreiber highlighted that last year's total number of tourists from China to South Africa stood at just more than 30,000, making the 11,000 brought in through TTOS in only three months “almost a third of all tourists from China who visited South Africa last year”.
“The success of TTOS demonstrates the enormous growth potential we can unlock by rolling out a digital-only visa platform — not only for group travel from these 65 partners but for every tourist in the world.

The minister confirmed plans to expand the scheme with a second intake of tour operators and rollout of a broader Electronic Travel Authorisation system later this year.

“This system will digitalise and automate tourism and short-stay visas, enabling every tourist on earth who wants to visit South Africa to instantly and securely obtain a digital visa,” said Schreiber.
“Not only will this eliminate fraud and inefficiency, but, as TTOS demonstrates beyond doubt, it will amount to the single biggest reform to boost job creation in the tourism sector in decades.”

The short answer
You need to find some proof that you were born in South Africa and that at least one of your parents was South African.

The whole question
My friend does not have a birth certificate, so he cannot get an ID. He has no parents or family to vouch for him, and the school that he went to says all the records got destroyed when they rebuilt. He wants to get married, so what can he do?

The long answer
Does your friend have any documents at all about his birth – a clinic card? The name of the clinic? The year? And any documents about the death of his parents? Did he have a guardian or foster parent that brought him up? The name of his school? He should try to find whatever he can by way of documents to prove that he was born in South Africa and that at least one of his parents was South African, as that would prove that he is South African and is entitled to an ID.

Because he will need a birth certificate to apply for an ID, he should apply for a birth certificate in late registration of birth. It is a long and difficult process, especially as his parents are no longer alive. As he is older than 15 years, he would need to provide the following documents to Home Affairs (DHA):
Obviously, he won’t have all these documents, but he must scrape together whatever documentary proof of his existence he has, and his application must still be accepted and considered by Home Affairs in terms of the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act (PAJA). This Act says that everyone in South Africa is entitled to administrative action that is lawful, reasonable and procedurally fair.

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Police and emergency services at the scene where about 30 men were found running through the streets and residents’ yards. Neighbours reported seeing dehydrated people who appeared to have been tortured.
• More than 20 young men showing signs of malnutrition, dehydration and torture escaped captivity in Centurion on Tuesday.
• Police have opened a kidnapping and extortion case.
• The men appeared deeply traumatised, were hesitant to trust authorities and urgently needed medical care.
Centurion resident Gary Watkins was getting ready for work on Tuesday morning when he saw a large group of young men in tattered clothes running down the streets of Laezonia and into people’s barbed wire-fenced yards.

Initial assumptions identified them as trespassers; however, it quickly became apparent that these men were trying to evade capture after being kidnapped.
Watkins, who is part of the community policing forum, called a local security company whose guards went on to capture the young men.
He said: “Around 09:35, a group of around 30 young people was seen running barefoot. Initially, they tried to stay together, but upon being spotted, some of them scattered. Private security managed to round up about 20 of them, leaving some missing.”

The men, who barely spoke English, were carrying little pieces of paper with numbers on them and signalled that they wanted to borrow a phone to get hold of their relatives.

“Some of them asked us to phone their relatives, and when we did, one of them - their family member - was asking us to release them, and they were offering us lots of money to do that,” Watkins told News24.
The men’s dramatic escape led to the police opening a case of kidnapping and extortion.
Police spokesperson Tintswalo Sibeko said the 22 Ethiopian nationals, aged between 16 and 26, had been found on a plot at Erasmia.
Sibeko added:

Three of the victims were injured and are receiving medical attention at the hospital. No arrests have been made yet. A police investigation is under way.
When News24 reporters arrived at the scene, they found the men lying on the grass on an open field between properties, looking extremely weak.
The men, who were barefoot and wore tattered, dirty clothing, appeared malnourished and dehydrated.
Some were hooked up to medical drips administered by members of humanitarian organisations to combat extreme dehydration and malnutrition.
They had scars on their legs - some resembling cigarette burns - and were thin and visibly distressed.

Neighbours brought food and water to assist, offering bread and canned beans.
Some ate the beans from cans, while others devoured the bread with urgency. Their expressions shifted to visible relief as their bodies registered nutrition.
Amid the unfolding chaos, police helicopters combed the area, searching for the rest of the group. Not far from the site of the initial discovery, more young men were located and taken into care.

A member of the local branch of The Value of One - an international NPO involved in rescuing and rehabilitating victims of human or sex trafficking - assisted with administering drips to some of the men.

The member, who would like to be kept anonymous, said the men appeared to have been kept in captivity for a long period.
“Preliminary information from family members suggests that some of the victims may have been held captive for up to eight months. Investigations into the exact circumstances, including the location of captivity and the identity of perpetrators, are ongoing.”

She added that 13 young men, aged between 16 and 30, were initially apprehended, and more were found.
“All were found to be severely malnourished, in need of urgent medical care, and deeply traumatised. Many expressed fear and hesitation to engage with authorities, believing assistance would require monetary compensation, highlighting the extent of their exploitation and mistrust.”

On Tuesday, Harvard University students held a protest in support of international students
US President Donald Trump's administration has ordered US embassies around the world to stop scheduling appointments for student visas as it prepares to expand social media vetting of such applicants.
An official memo said social media vetting would be stepped up for student and foreign exchange visas, which would have "significant implications" for embassies and consulates.

It comes during a wide-ranging Trump crackdown on some of America's most elite universities. He sees these institutions as too left-wing - accusing them of failing to combat antisemitism when pro-Palestinian protests have unfolded on campuses.
Responding to the move, China called on the US to protect international students.

Watch: Trump on Harvard's international students
"We urge the US side to earnestly safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of international students, including those from China," an official was quoted as saying. Hundreds of thousands of Chinese students attend US universities.
The universities themselves are likely to be disquieted as well. Many of them rely on foreign students for a significant chunk of their funding - as those scholars often pay higher tuition fees.

Foreign students who want to study in the US are usually required to schedule interviews at a US embassy in their home country before approval.
State department spokesperson Tammy Bruce told reporters on Tuesday: "We take very seriously the process of vetting who it is that comes into the country, and we're going to continue to do that."

The memo, viewed by the BBC's US partner CBS News, directed US embassies to remove any unfilled appointments from their calendars for students seeking visas, but said those with appointments already scheduled could go ahead.
The pause would last "until further guidance is issued", Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote.
The memo also said the state department was preparing for an "expansion of required social media screening and vetting" applicable to all student visa applications.

It did not spell out what the vetting would look for.
The Trump administration had already enhanced its vetting of student social media, according to a report by the Guardian in March, which linked the move to a broader crackdown on pro-Palestinian demonstrations on campuses.
In April, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) stated that it would consider "antisemitic activity on social media and the physical harassment of Jewish individuals as grounds for denying immigration benefit requests".

Watch: US to use "every tool" to decide who enters country, says Tammy Bruce
As part of the broader crackdown, Trump's team has frozen hundreds of millions of dollars in funding for universities and moved to deport students, while revoking thousands of visas for others. Many of these actions have been blocked by the courts.

The White House has accused some US universities of allowing pro-Palestinian activism on campus to be hijacked by antisemitism.
Universities have accused the Trump administration of trying to infringe on free speech. Critics say the new policy on social media vetting represents a further violation of the rights that are supposed to be enshrined by the First Amendment in the US Constitution.

Trump has throughout his presidency countered that he is working to defend free speech.
Harvard University has been the focal point of the president's ire; he has frozen $2.65bn (£1.96bn) in federal grants to the institution and has sought to put other federal funding worth $100m under review.

The university's president has said the cuts will "hurt" the country, not just Harvard, because academics were conducting research deemed "high-priority" by the government.

Last week, Trump also revoked Harvard's ability to enrol international students or host foreign researchers. A federal judge blocked the policy.
If the measure is ultimately allowed, it could deliver a devastating blow to the university, where more than a quarter of students are from overseas. Students protested against the move at the university's campus near Boston on Tuesday.

The short answer
To be on the safe side, perhaps it would be wise to apply for temporary visas for the family, as well as permanent residence for the whole family, you included.

The whole question
I hold a temporary visa. Can I apply for permanent residence from my home country so that I can apply together with my family? Does my family need to have temporary visas first or can they just apply for permanent residency at the same time as me?

The long answer
In answer to this question: Can my accompanying family apply for permanent residence with me at the same time? samigration . says the following:
“Yes, as long as the applications of the whole family are submitted at the same time then the immediate accompanying family of foreigners applying for permanent residence may apply together. Should the applications not be submitted at the same time, the accompanying family will need to wait for the successful outcome of the main applicant’s permanent residence application to be in a position to apply for permanent residence as his or her immediate family. The foreign spouse of a permanent resident applicant is only eligible to apply for permanent residence having been espoused for at least 5 years.”

As a temporary residence permit has to be renewed online at VFS Global, 60 days before it expires, Sa Migration adds, “In the first instance, it is possible in most cases, for the individual to apply for permanent residency at the same time they apply for temporary residency. The Department of Home Affairs currently has a backlog of permanent residency applications and therefore the processing of these can take anywhere between 12 and 30 months. However, in many cases the permanent residency will be issued before the temporary residency expires, therefore negating the issue of an expired temporary visa.”
As you know, a temporary visa holder can apply for permanent residence after five years of staying in South Africa on the basis of a work permit. It is possible to apply for permanent residency) from outside South Africa as well as within South Africa.

But as Home Affairs says that the permanent residency permit “is also applicable to spouses and dependents of South African citizens/permanent residence permit holders” (my emphasis), it is not clear to me whether the accompanying family must first apply for temporary visas or not. To be on the safe side, perhaps it would be wise to take Intergate Immigration’s tip and apply for temporary visas for the family, as well as permanent residence for the whole family including the main holder of the temporary visa at the same time.

🚗 Call to Action:
Contact SA Migration today to schedule a free consultation. With 25 years of experience and full compliance with the Department of Home Affairs, Labour, SAPS, and Courts, we’re here to ensure your success.
📞 WhatsApp: +27 82 373 8415
📧 Email: info@samigration.com
🌐 Website: www.samigration.com
Your compliance is our priority—let’s build your future together