Australia lifts permanent immigration by 35,000 to 195,000

6 Sep 2022 – CNBC

 

The Australian government announced on Friday it will increase its permanent immigration intake by 35,000 to 195,000 in the current fiscal year.

• Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil said many of the “best and brightest minds” were choosing to migrate to Canada, Germany and Britain instead of Australia.

 

Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil said many of the “best and brightest minds” were choosing to migrate to Canada, Germany and Britain instead of Australia.

The Australian government announced on Friday it will increase its permanent immigration intake by 35,000 to 195,000 in the current fiscal year as the nation grapples with skills and labor shortages.

Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil announced the increase for the year ending June 30, 2023, during a two-day summit of 140 representatives of governments, trade unions, businesses and industry to address skills shortages exacerbated by the pandemic.

O’Neill said Australian nurses have been working double and triple shifts for the past two years, flights were being canceled because of a lack of ground staff and fruit was being left to rot on trees because there was no one to pick it.

“Our focus is always Australian jobs first, and that’s why so much of the summit has focused on training and on the participation of women and other marginalized groups,” O’Neil said.

“But the impact of COVID has been so severe that even if we exhaust every other possibility, we will still be many thousands of workers short, at least in the short term,” she added.

Housing affordability in Australia will deteriorate, says Moody’s

O’Neil said many of the “best and brightest minds” were choosing to migrate to Canada, Germany and Britain instead of Australia.

She described Australia’s immigration program as “fiendishly complex” with more than 70 unique visa programs.

Australia would establish a panel to rebuild its immigration program in the national interest, she said.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced on Thursday, the first day of the Jobs and Skills Summit, that 180,000 free places would be offed in vocational education schools next year at a cost of 1.1 billion Australian dollars ($748,000) to reduce the nation’s skills shortage.

Australia imposed some of the strictest international travel restrictions of an democratic country for 20 months early in the pandemic and gradually reopened to skilled workers from December last year.

www.samigration.com

 

 

Till Home Affairs us do part: couple can’t say ‘I do’ because they’re still married to their dead spouses

Daily Maverick – 06 September 2022

 

Audrey Thomas (75) and Edgar Meyer (76) can't marry because the Home Affairs database was never updated after the deaths of their loved-ones.

An elderly couple who plan to get married next month have discovered that in the red-tape world of Home Affairs, death does not part you. The department’s system shows they are still married to their dead spouses.

The invitations have been sent, the dress made and the hall hired for Gqeberha couple Audrey Thomas (75) and Edgar Meyer (76) to tie the knot on 10 September.

Friends for the past 40 years, Thomas and Meyer fell in love after they lost their spouses in 2018 and 2020. But as they prepared for their wedding and saw the priest they wished to marry them, they were told to obtain a validation certificate from Home Affairs to confirm that neither of them was married any more – something that would apparently be quick and painless. Only it wasn’t.

In the past, couples who wished to get married and were widowed could merely present the death certificates of their respective spouses to the marriage officers.

Home Affairs included this requirement in an effort to fight fraudulent marriages.

The problem appears to be that the Home Affairs system had not updated the marital statuses of either Meyer or Thomas and both are still reflected as legally married to their spouses.

“We even took them the stamped death certificates,” Meyer said. “But they say there is nothing they can do. Home Affairs themselves had stamped both death certificates.”

After being referred to “Counter 11” for service, Meyer had no luck. When he asked to see a supervisor he was told the problem was with “head office”.

“They were blaming Covid-19 for the backlog,” Thomas said, “but our spouses both died before Covid.”

The stress of the situation has caused Thomas’s health to deteriorate and her ulcer to flare up.

“I asked a friend if he could go to head office in Pretoria but was told that they do not see members of the public at head office,” Meyer said. “I was advised that it would be completely in vain for him to go because they will not let him in.”

“Officials also told me that documentation can only be sent to ‘head office’ in Pretoria by post. It cannot be sent in any other way,” he said.

This has been done a few times already.

Living in sin

An Anglican priest in Gqeberha, Nicolette Leonard, said she was desperate to help the couple. “They do not want to live in sin. And they are old. I am doing everything I can to help them.” She said a senior manager at Home Affairs had indicated that he would try to help.

With the big day around the corner, Meyer is now desperate for a resolution.

“If someone can tell me what to do I will do it,” he said.

Leonard said other marriage officers had the same problem with couples where one or both of them were divorced.

The department introduced this step “due to the large number of fraudulent marriages reported to the Department of Home Affairs  [DHA] every year”, according to its website.

South Africans used to be able to check their marital status by SMSing the letter M followed by an ID number to 32551, but this service has been suspended. In September 2021, Minister of Home Affairs Aaron Motsoaledi explained in a written answer to Parliament why the online verification system (OVS) had been suspended.

“The [system] was initially deployed and accessed by citizens for the online verification of marital status, passport and ID application status, among others.

“The system gained popularity to the point whereby insurance companies were not using proper processes. However, insurance companies opted to use the same free service designed for individual citizens.

“International users were identified trying to access our National Population Register system via the unsecured system,” he explained.

He said this posed a risk to the safety of citizens’ data.

“The department was then advised to temporarily close the OVS and work on a solution to address all identified risks. Security of citizens’ data is the priority of the DHA. That’s why the department opted to temporarily close the system, until OVS is secured and is solely accessed by the authorised users.

“Thereafter, [the] DHA separated OVS processes for insurance companies and citizens, into two phases.

“The former is already in commission, while the latter is being planned to be released as a second phase… Efforts are under way to provide such services in a more secure fashion,” Motsoaledi added.

Home Affairs media manager David Hlabane has not yet responded to a request for comment from the department.

www.samigration.com

 

 

South Africa’s visa backlog putting billions in investment at risk

Enca – 01 September 2022

 

The slow pace of visa approvals for foreign experts and CEOs might lead to multinational corporations investing elsewhere, says Jean Claude Lasserre, the chairperson of the French Trade Advisors.

Speaking to ENCA, Lasserre said that the slow processes at the Department of Home Affairs, paired with a backlog of unprocessed visas, have left many highly skilled professionals, including process engineers and financial experts from entering the country.

The presence of these outsourced skills in South Africa forms part of France’s pledge to invest R50 billion into the country.

This follows a recent South African Reserve Bank Quarterly Bulletin that showed that foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow from across the globe was R27.2 billion in the first quarter of 2022.

Lasserre said that more than 99% of the people employed in the investment projects are from South Africa; however, some experts from overseas are still required – even if they invest heavily into the upskilling of domestic staff.

He said that if the process of getting visas is not sped up, it will ultimately lead to disinvestment in South Africa as it makes organising and doing business in the country more difficult.

Slow visa processes are a shared concern among many multinationals, not just French companies, said Lasserre. This is why there have been strong calls for the Department of Home Affairs as well as the Department of Trade and Industry to address the issue.

The long queue of visa applications has no prioritisation and does not consider the length in which someone must wait. If this was to continue, multinationals might look elsewhere to invest as projects will be delayed.

South Africa is a pipeline for the international community into Africa as a whole, but if this issue can not be addressed, multinational corporations may look elsewhere on the continent to make a hub, said Lasserre.

Getting a working visa has recently been made even harder to get by the Department of Employment and Labour (DEL), say immigration experts at Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr.

The legal experts said that employers must ensure that they comply with new requirements to avoid any administrative delays in the processing of visa applications.

The new annexure to regulations means that there is a compulsory preliminary process to be followed before work visa applications are submitted to the Visa Facilitation Services.

The new procedure adds additional compliance steps and requires that an application be submitted to the DEL for vetting.

Steps by government 

In an attempt to process the backlog of visa applications on foreign nationals, the Department of Home Affairs, on 27 June, decided to introduce temporary measures to assist the situation.

In terms of visa applications that are still pending, the department said that foreign national who are awaiting the outcome of their visa application is granted a temporary extension until 30 September 2022 of the current visa status.

The department added that:

• Applicants with pending long-term visa applications who originate from countries that are exempt from the port of entry visa requirements and who wish to travel may do so by presenting their VFS receipts on arrival back to collect their visa outcomes.
• Applicants with pending long-term visa applications who originate from countries that are visa restricted would require a port of entry visa and their VFS receipt in order to be re-admitted into South Africa.

www.samigration.com

 

Big changes proposed for visas in South Africa – including plans for highly skilled foreign workers

ABX  - 27 August 2022

 

Finance minister Enoch Godongwana says that the government will explore the feasibility of a visa recognition programme next quarter that will allow the holders of certain visas of recognised countries to enter South Africa without a new application process.

Speaking during the release of the Operation Vulindlela (OV) report on Friday (5 August), the minister pointed out that the government rolled out its e-visa system and has extended it to 14 countries to support the country’s tourism sector. It is anticipated that more countries will be added to the list in due course.

A comprehensive review of the work visa system has been completed, with recommendations for reform of the visa regime to attract skills and investment, said the minister. The report is due out later in August.

In the meantime, the Department of Home Affairs has published an updated critical skills list for South Africa, showing what skills are in short supply across the country. The new list has added 39 new skills, building on top of the previous publication in February of this year.

The critical skills list from the Department of Home Affairs falls under the Immigration Act and sets out the qualifications and skills deemed to be critical for the country in relation to an application for a critical skills work visa or permanent residence permit.

“South Africa’s labour market is characterised by a growing demand for skilled labour alongside high levels of unemployment for unskilled labour. Addressing the skills shortage requires a combination of short and longer-term solutions,” the government has said.

“In the short term, we need to attract skills where these are in short supply in order to boost the competitiveness of firms and enable growth and dynamism in the economy,” it said.

“Highly skilled foreign workers create more than one job for South African workers on average and contribute significantly to tax revenues and spending in the economy, as well as to productivity improvements and innovation.”

Operation Vulindlela together with the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) undertook a comprehensive review of the regulatory framework and processes for skills visas in South Africa.

The review led by Mavuso Msimang sought to identify improvements that could enhance the effectiveness of the visa system. Its recommendations aim to achieve a balance between the economic benefits of skilled immigration and the need to promote and prioritise the employment of South Africans.

An effective work visa system could contribute significantly to higher levels of economic growth and position South Africa as a globally competitive destination for investment and innovation,” the government said.

Labour minister Thulas Nxesi recently told Bloomberg that he aims to add as many as 2 million new jobs before the next elections, despite the current high levels of unemployment that have plagued the country for decades.

About 12 million South Africans are without jobs. That means unemployment according to the expanded definition, which includes people who were available for work but not looking for a job, is at 45.5%. Africa’s most-industrialized nation will go to the polls to elect its next president in 2024, Bloomberg reported.

Nxesi’s job target may be difficult to achieve – if history is a guide, it said. The government’s 2012 economic blueprint that president Cyril Ramaphosa co-authored targeted an official unemployment rate of 14% by 2020. That’s the year when the official jobless rate exceeded 30%, and it’s now at 34.5%.

“Whether or not that is achievable, I don’t know,” Nxesi said of his goal in an interview in Bloomberg’s office in Johannesburg. The government is working on policy amendments to prioritize South Africans’ access to jobs over foreign nationals with the same skills, he said.

Strict labour laws, stagnant productivity, bureaucratic hurdles and a skills shortage have reduced the ability of companies to hire additional workers, Bloomberg said.

There’s been a trend of “employment of foreign workers at the expense of the South African workers,” Nxesi said. “The issue is the employers who deliberately employ these vulnerable people.”

Reducing undocumented immigrants will be vital in addressing unemployment, he said. “It’s a very sensitive matter everywhere, but if you look in Zimbabwe, Botswana, Nigeria and Ghana – they have all declared that you can’t bring anyone from outside if there is a national who is able to perform that job,” he said.

To limit the influx of illegal migrants from neighbouring nations, South Africa wants to establish a border control agency. The Border Management Authority will have branches at six border posts, to begin with, and employ people from various government departments to tighten the implementation of immigration policies.

www.samiigration.com

Frantic scramble as December deadline looms for 178,000 Zimbabwean Exemption Permit holders

27 Aug 2022 – Daily Maverick

 

According to the Department of Home Affairs, fewer than 4% (6000 out of 178 000) of Zimbabwe Exemption Permit holders have made representations to the Department of Home Affairs to say why their documents should not be terminated in December.

Fewer than 4% (6,000 out of 178,000) of Zimbabwean Exemption Permit (ZEP) holders have made representations to the Department of Home Affairs to say why their documents should not be terminated in December. But the permit holders have to contend with dysfunctional Home Affairs offices and high costs.

Financial constraints and hard-to-meet criteria for alternative permits will lock thousands of Zimbabweans out of their lives in South Africa as the invalidation of the Zimbabwean Exemption Permits (ZEP) looms.

Liesl Fourie, an attorney at Nelson Mandela University’s Refugee Rights Centre, says: “ZEP holders have to apply for alternative immigration visas… to legalise their stay in SA. These visa applications are R1,750 per visa, plus an additional R800 for the SA Police [Service] clearance certificate, plus medical and radiological reports.

“In addition, they also require a Zimbabwean police clearance certificate and a Zimbabwean passport which will be valid for many months after the expiry of the visa that they are applying for.

“All of this costs money. Each family member, including minor children, who reside in SA, will have to make their application, so the cost increases exponentially with every family member present in SA.”

According to the Department of Home Affairs, fewer than 4% (6,000 out of 178,000) ZEP holders have made representations to the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) to say why their documents should not be terminated in December.

Precarious situation

Arnold Bosso (31) has lived in Verulam, KwaZulu-Natal for 14 years and says he is in a precarious situation as he is a construction worker, which is not considered to be a critical skill. Outside of that, he doesn’t qualify or have the money to acquire a different permit for himself or his family of six.

“When I came to SA I had my excavator operator’s certificate, but I couldn’t find a job. Then I went to college and did office administration and business management. But it was hard for me to find a job till now and I decided to do construction for me and my family to survive. We’ve got drivers, housemaids, they were told to apply for critical skills but they don’t qualify,” Bosso said.

The Cabinet created the Dispensation of Zimbabweans Project (DZP) in 2009. The beneficiaries of this project remained in South Africa as holders of permits issued under the subsequent ministerial exemption dispensation. With the 2010 World Cup looming, it brought skills to the construction and hospitality sectors, which needed labour at the time. People such as Bosso filled this need by specialising in these industries to make a living.

“The minister of home affairs already decided in 2021 to terminate the ZEP visas. He simply afforded ZEP visa holders a one-year extension on the validity of their ZEP visas to legalise their stay in SA by obtaining an alternative visa — for example, work, study or relatives visas — before the end of 2022,” said Fourie.

“This extension was probably only granted because the minister of home affairs made the announcement not to extend the ZEP visas so late in 2021 and also bearing in mind the large backlog in visa applications at the DHA occasioned by the Covid-19 lockdown [the department worked at reduced capacity at its head office, where visa applications are processed].

“It will therefore not serve any purpose for ZEP holders to make submissions; they have to apply for alternative visas within our immigration system to legalise their stay in SA.”

Survival choice

Home Affairs Director-General Livhuwani Tommy Makhode asserts that Zimbabwe is in a much better state than it was when asylum was first warranted and therefore Zimbabweans can go home. However, Bosso says things may be different, but people are still suffering in his home country.

“Zimbabwe doesn’t have industries to accommodate all the people who want work; nothing is much better in Zimbabwe. Coming to SA was the best choice for us to survive. They can say whatever they want, that Zimbabwe is better, but people are suffering. For example, how can you say a country is better when they don’t have their [own]) currency?”

Fourie says activists and organisations such as the Helen Suzman Foundation have faced challenges while trying to fight the termination of the ZEP.

Minister of Home Affairs, Aaron Motsoaledi. (Photo: Gallo Images / Sunday Times / Alon Skuy)

“The minister’s decision not to extend the ZEP visa is an administrative act and several organisations have taken this decision on judicial review. All of these applications taking the minister’s decision on review have been opposed by the DHA, and Minister [Aaron] Motsoaledi has even gone as far as instituting ‘Slapp suits’ against the legal practitioners representing the ZEP holders in these matters,” she said.

“The current application for judicial review brought by the Helen Suzman Foundation is probably the best chance of success that ZEP holders might have in having their special dispensation visas extended.

“It is, however, also being opposed and the minister of home affairs, in addition, is trying his best to discredit the Helen Suzman Foundation in the media.

“Having regard to the nature of this application and the court roll in the Western Cape High Court where this application was launched, I doubt that this matter will be finalised before the end of 2022 unless special arrangements/agreements are made to deal with this issue on an urgent basis and for the court to allocate a date for the hearing thereof,” Fourie added.

www.samigration.com