Kenyans to enter South Africa visa-free from January

Kenyans to enter South Africa visa-free from January

The presidents of South Africa and Kenya say they have resolved a long-standing visa dispute.

ABC News | 16 November 2022

NAIROBI, Kenya -- The presidents of South Africa and Kenya said Wednesday they have resolved a long-standing visa dispute and Kenyans will be able to visit South Africa visa-free for up to 90 days in a calendar year.

South Africans already get free visas on arrival in Kenya, while Kenyans were charged and required to provide proof of sufficient funds and return flight tickets.

The new agreement is set to take effect on Jan. 1.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa was in Kenya on his first official trip to the country.

He and Kenyan President William Ruto praised the Ethiopia peace agreement signed last week in South Africa and brokered by the African Union.

They appealed to the parties to “ensure full implementation of the agreement to reach a lasting political settlement."

The Kenyan and South African leaders also directed their trade ministers to address barriers that limit trade between the two countries.

The two nations are among the strongest economies on the African continent.

Home Affairs dragging its feet with adoption registrations

Home Affairs dragging its feet with adoption registrations – Angel Khanhyile

Politics Web | 09 November 2022

As the world celebrates Adoption Day, the Democratic Alliance calls on the department of Home Affairs to urgently register all pending adoptions in South Africa.

On the 1st of November 2022, the Department of Home Affairs and Minister Aaron Motsoaledi appeared before the Portfolio Committee of Home Affairs, presenting the first and second quarter’s reports that were mum on adoption registrations.

In response to the questions on these registration statuses, the department assured the committee that all adoptions with court orders had been registered.

The minister and the department however mislead the Portfolio Committee.

The information in our possession indicates that adoptions with court orders, dated as far back as 2019 have not been registered. As a result, parents who reside outside the country are left with no option but to leave their children behind because they do not have the new birth certificates, which display the particulars of the new parents. It also prevents them from applying for passports.

In desperation, some parents have approached the courts to force the department to register the adopted children, but the department is adamant about ignoring the court orders.

The DA submitted 121 adoption orders to the department today, and we expect the department to do the right thing and register these children to give them a chance at a new life with their new families.

www.samigration.com

Australia: Home affairs prepare to revamp Australia's immigration system

Australia: Home affairs prepare to revamp Australia's immigration system

Roam Migration Law  15 November 2022

Issues with our immigration system and program are splashed across the media this morning, as Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil says the government is already acting on allegations regarding specific people over the exploitation of the visa system.

“We are already taking action on these individuals,” she told media this morning.

“But I do think there is a need to have a broader look at the way in which the system has been exploited by criminals, and so we will also undertake that work and we’re just working with the government about what’s the best policy process to work through.”

We’ve got to have a really good conversation here, and the migration reform is about looking at, you know, big economic transformations the country needs to make. Because we want to be a high-skill, high-wage economy and the immigration system can help us deliver that.

But we’ve got another very important objective here, which is to make sure we’ve got the caring workforce we need to give dignity in their older age.

O’Neil also said the current skilled migration list isn’t evidence-based.

“The way that you end up with something on the skilled migration list is not based really on whether there’s a skills shortage or not.’

www.samigration.com


Home Affairs says it is winning battle against long queues

Home Affairs says it is winning battle against long queues

Cape Times 15 Nov 2022

Cape Town - While the portfolio committee on Home Affairs has welcomed progress made in the fight against long queues at Home Affairs offices through the Branch Appointment Booking System (Babs), they say more still needs to be done.

The department launched the system in June, in an effort to improve service delivery to clients.

Babs is currently active in 163 front offices.

By the end of the November it was expected that all modernised offices would have a booking system.

The department also expanded its footprint and entered public-private partnership with banks, with 27 bank branches currently operational and available to service Home Affairs clients.

The department said it envisaged rolling out the service to a further 43 sites once partnership agreements were signed.

Department deputy director-general for institutional planning and support, Thulani Mavuso, said: “The first intervention we made that is showing great success is Babs.

“This is currently running on a hybrid model. There has been a lot (more) positive feedback from clients than negatives with the system. For now the booking system is just for ID smart cards and passports.

“It has seen the reduction of queues in certain offices and improved client satisfaction; many clients have communicated this via social media and direct emails to the department.”

He said over 200 000 clients have used the booking system since June 1.

ANC MP Mathedi Moleka said many offices were still faced with long queues and she hoped this would improve soon.

Moleka suggested that mobile units return for the elderly for the collection of smart cards as many travel long distances for collection.

“Otherwise the progress made is welcomed and hopefully remaining issues will be attended to as a matter of urgency.”

DA MP Adrian Roos said that Babs was great but his concern was that sometimes it was over subscribed.

“I remember in Somerset West there were few people who had an appointment at the same time.

“There was also a matter of a long queue this other time while the Babs terminal was empty.

“Something must also be done for the disadvantaged people who don’t have the internet or smart phones, so that they (can) book on this booking system.”

www.samigration.com

New bank branches where you can get your Smart ID and passport in South Africa

New bank branches where you can get your Smart ID and passport in South Africa

The Department of Home Affairs is slowly rolling out its services to more bank branches in South Africa, with a new office opening up in the Northern Cape, and more on the way.


Presenting to the portfolio committee on Home Affairs on Tuesday, the department said that it is in the process of opening a new office at the Kathu Mall in the Northern Cape.


The office is currently taking walk-ins as part of its stress testing and will go into full operation soon.

This brings the total number of active bank branches with Home Affairs services to 27, with the department anticipating the rollout of 43 more branches once agreements with the participating banks are signed in 2023.


Progress in signing the agreements with banks has been slow, however, with the department noting several issues that have been raised.


Banks are hesitant to get into bed with the department due to the reputational risk involved with extended periods of downtime.


“The banks have raised the State Information Technology Agency’s (SITA’s) turnaround times as a big reputation risk for them �` and need assurances that their sites won’t be offline for longer periods,” the department said.


The period for the banking Home Affairs pilot ended in July 2022, it said, but the banks have agreed to extend the pilot to 31 March 2023. The department said that it envisages that it would have signed agreements with all the participating banks before that date.


In the meantime, the DHA said that SITA has embarked on a R400 million upgrade of its core network which will take place over the next five years. Of the amount, R159 million has already been spent.


The upgrades will focus on replacing old equipment and expanding network capacity to ensure that there isn’t a fight among various DHA sites over the limited bandwidth.


Banking groups participating in the DHA pilot previously told BusinessTech that they are keen to roll out Home Affairs services to more branches in the country, but they are waiting for the DHA to sign service-level agreements and lay out its strategy.


The banks which offer DHA services �` including Discovery, Investec, Standard Bank, Nedbank, Absa and FNB �` said that there is a growing demand among their customers to make use of the satellite offices, and they remain engaged in discussions with the department on how to expand the services to more regions.


Home Affairs is also looking to roll out satellite offices at popular malls in the country.


These are the bank branches that currently offer Home Affairs services in South Africa:


Northern Cape


NEW Standard Bank Kathu Mall �` stress testing, taking walk-ins

Eastern Cape


Absa Greenacres

Standard Bank Newton Park

Gauteng


Absa Centurion Lifestyle

Absa Sandton Mall

Absa Keywest Mall

FNB Bank City JHB

FNB Centurion Lifestyle

FNB The Grove Mall

FNB The Glen

FNB Sandton

Nedbank Arcadia

Nedbank Constantia Kloof

Nedbank Rivonia

Standard Bank Centurion

Standard Bank Killarney Mall

Standard Bank Simmonds Street JHB

Standard Bank Jubilee Mall

Discovery Bank Sandton

Investec Sandton

KwaZulu Natal


Standard Bank Kingsmead

FNB Cornubia

Limpopo


FNB Burgersfort

Mpumalanga


Nedbank Nelspruit

Western Cape


Standard Bank Promenade Mall

Standard Bank Canal Walk

FNB Greenpoint

Nedbank St George’s Mall