sami - Posthaven

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

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

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

Home Affairs, border posts will be hit as 235 000 civil servants plan strike on Thursday

The Public Servants' Association (PSA) maintains that its strike in the public service will still "definitely" commence on Thursday, while the government said it would have measures in place to mitigate the impact of the industrial action.

The union has 235 000 members, and warned that its planned strike would hit Home Affairs, the Department of Transport, and South Africa border controls in particular. This will be the PSA's first strike since 2010. The union was founded more than a century ago.

Government is unilaterally implementing a 3% wage hike this month, while the PSA is demanding 6.5%.

Only the SA Democratic Teachers' Union (Sadtu) has accepted government's 3% wage offer, while Cosatu affiliates want a 10% increase.

The PSA will hold a march and picket at the offices of the National Treasury on Wednesday.

READ | Unions mull tough govt strike - but festive season and tough finances loom large

PSA assistant general manager Reuben Maleka told News24 that the PSA strike would "definitely" take place on Thursday.

The PSA said that if the strike becomes protracted, it had a fund in place to pay striking members. However, News24 understands that some in government only expect a one-day strike.

Maleka said the union would also march to the National Treasury to register its umbrage with Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana setting an average 3.1% increase to the public service wage bill in his Medium-term Budget Policy Statement in October.

This was in line with the Acting Minister of Public Service and Administration Thulas Nxesi's decision to invoke section 5 of the Public Service Act to implement the 3% increase unilaterally, which will be paid out to qualifying public servants from next week.

READ | Possibility of 800 000-strong public sector strike looms as unions weigh options

The Department of Public Service and Administration said in a statement that it noted the PSA's plans to embark on a national march on Thursday.

"The department has put measures in place to mitigate the impact of such an action by the PSA."

It said rules state that picketing may "only take place during lunch hours or tea breaks outside the premises of the employer".

"All provisions related to the management of employees participating in the protected strike shall apply," the statement said.

In Parliament on Wednesday afternoon, Nxesi is set to appear in a plenary of the National Assembly to reply orally to questions regarding the ongoing deadlock in the public service wage talks.

Meanwhile, public service unions affiliated with the Cosatu - namely the National Education, Health, and Allied Workers' Union (Nehawu), the Democratic Nursing Organisation of SA (Denosa), and the Police, Prisons and Civil Rights Union (Popcru) - will hold a briefing on Wednesday to announce their plans after being awarded certificates of non-resolution.

SA visas may give ZEP holders the best chance of staying in SA

The reality is that ZEP holders can benefit much more from taking action now than waiting for their permits to expire.

By Marisa Jacobs 14 Nov 2022

Zimbabwean Exemption Permit (ZEP) holders should take advantage of the six-month extension granted by the South African government to apply for a mainstream visa or exemption.

The general but mistaken sentiment among ZEP holders seems to be that it is a pointless exercise because applicants will inevitably not be successful with their applications.

The reality is that ZEP holders can benefit much more from taking action now than waiting for their permits to expire.

In October, Zimbabwe’s Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, Monica Mutsvangwa, said that less than 10% of the some 180 000 ZEP holders had applied for available South African visas. This was against the previous deadline of 31 December 2022. Because of the low response, the Minister of Home Affairs extended the period of exemption to 30 June 2023.

Protection

It appears evident that the government wants to end the ZEP process itself rather than discourage the presence of Zimbabweans in South Africa. This is so that, as foreign nationals, their stay in the country will be administered through the prescribed visa system and not independently of it.

The minister’s published directive on the implementation of the extension provides applicants with concrete protection.

This includes the following provisions for ZEP holders during the extension period:

They may not be arrested, ordered to depart the country, detained for deportation, or deported for not having a valid exemption certificate label or sticker in their passport.
They may not be dealt with in terms of sections 29 (Prohibited persons), 30 (Undesirable persons) and 32 (Illegal foreigners) of the Immigration Act.
They may exit and re-enter the country freely provided they meet all the requirements for entry/departure, except for having a valid permit in their passport.
They are not required to produce a valid exemption certificate or an authorisation letter to remain in South Africa when making their application for any category of visa, including a temporary residence visa.

This means they can move around freely and apply for an appropriate visa without fear of exposing themselves to prosecution or bureaucratic discrimination.

Benefits of a visa

A ZEP holder only has to look at the limiting conditions reflected in their passport to realise the benefits of applying for a visa.

First, they do not have the right to seek permanent residence in South Africa, regardless of how long they remain in the country. Applying for a visa for which they qualify presents the possibility of one day enjoying permanent residence.

ZEPs also cannot be renewed or extended. The current extension applies to the elimination of the ZEP system altogether, not the expiry of individual permits. On the other hand, visas may be renewed for qualifying candidates.

In addition, the ZEP holder cannot change the conditions of their permit inside South Africa. For example, to be granted a work visa, they would need to return to Zimbabwe and make their application through an SA embassy there. The extension grants them the ability to apply for a visa while still in the country.

Act now

Of course, the deciding factor is that the ZEP holder’s time will run out on 30 June 2023 anyway. So, they have nothing to lose by making their application, but nothing to gain if they don’t. Home Affairs has made it clear that no further extensions will be granted.

Finally, it is possible that a backlog will build up nearer the deadline, causing delays in the processing of applications.

To ensure that their status remains valid post 30 June 2023, ZEP holders should apply now to give themselves the best chance of success and plenty of time to plan ahead.