New visas planned for South Africa

The Department of Home Affairs says it has started laying the groundwork for new visa types to be introduced in South Africa, in a bid to draw in skilled workers.

The department has published its 2023/24 annual performance plan, which includes its intentions and targets for the current financial year.

In the plan, Home Affairs minister Aaron Motsoaledi said that the department is currently exploring new visa categories, including start-up visas and remote working visas.The minister has long responded to inquiries about these visas by saying that the current regulatory framework to introduce them does not exist, and had indicated the department had no plans in place to change this.

However, these visas, and a wider push to draw skilled labour to South Africa, have been key points in president Cyril Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) for the last two years.

Action on Ramaphosa’s promises is now finally being taken.

“The comprehensive review of the work visa system is underway to explore new visa categories that could enable economic growth, such as a start-up visa and a remote working visa,” Motsoaledi said.

“In this regard, certain process and policy recommendations proposed by the Vulindlela Task Team are being considered by the DHA for implementation. These recommendations are aimed at establishing a visa regime that will attract skills and promote tourism. ”

As part of these plans, the department said it would publish a White Paper on the Management of Citizenship, International Migration and Refugee Protection, which will address these new visa types, among other key immigration issues.

President Cyril Ramaphosa’s 2023 State of the Nation Address made commitments such as the establishment of a more flexible points-based system to attract skilled migration, implementing a trusted employer scheme to make the visa process easier for large investors and streamlining application requirements as well as introducing a remote worker visa and special dispensation for high-growth start-ups

These will all be covered in the whitepaper, the department said.

A consultation document (green paper) is expected to be completed by the end of the first quarter of the financial year (end June), with a whitepaper expected to be submitted to cabinet by the end of the fourth quarter (April 2024).

In the meantime, the DHA said it will also continue rolling out an e-Visa system, which will place technology at the centre of operations by making it easy and secure to enter and depart South Africa.

Visa chaos

While the department has big plans for reworking the visa regime, it is currently sitting with a massive backlog that is causing chaos in its back offices.

The department announced last week that it would be extending the validity of some standing visas while it tries to process over 62,700 applications and waivers that have backed up.

To put the extent of the backlog in context, the department aimed to have most critical skills visas processed within four weeks of application in 2022, but has estimated that it only managed to process 20% of these applications in that time.

This is down from 57% in 2021. The DHA has now set a lofty goal of having 90% of these visas processed in 2023  however it anticipates only being able to clear the current backlog some time in 2024, so this is looking unattainable.

One of the key solutions the department is proposing is introducing “one-top-shop” visa processing through the Visa Adjudication System (VAS).

“The VAS enables the capability to submit visa applications online and adjudicate electronically, from receipt of applications to issuing of outcomes. This brings efficiency and supports facilitating the movement of business persons, migrant workers with skills and prospective investors to South Africa,” the department said.

The implementation of these one-stop-shop centres will offer investors and their families reduced turnaround times for priority applications by establishing a dedicated centre at the back office to deal with applications received from these centres and offer immigration-related advice.

The VAS will provide for the central administration of all visa and permitting applications made within South Africa through the department’s appointed frontline servicing partner, VFS Global.

“The White Paper on Home Affairs states that by 2025 core elements of the new model must be fully functional, including basic administrative and core business systems, and required security standards must be maintained,” it said.

By 2029 the envisioned end-state must be achieved with the legacy model fully replaced, world-class standards maintained and funding for the full execution of the DHA mandate secured.

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SA has significant deficits in areas like technical skills. 

A major overhaul of South Africa`s visa regime is needed, and during his upcoming investment conference, President Cyril Ramaphosa should address the issue, according to Business Leadership SA (BLSA).

`The president could use the opportunity to announce a credible intervention to fix the visa mess. That would go far to addressing one of the major sources of a lack of confidence in South Africa`s investment case,` the BLSA says in its latest newsletter.

Visa administration problems at the Department of Home Affairs are unacceptable and a serious impediment to the South African economy, according to BLSA.  

The slow processing of applications for work visas and the extension of existing ones create an `impossible situation` for companies doing business or wanting to do business in SA. This is despite efforts by Operation Vulindlela in the Presidency to revise the scarce skills list, the BLSA said in its weekly newsletter on Monday.

`For company executives, the uncertainty created by the administrative chaos is a massive turnoff. If a company is considering the location of their regional headquarters, how does South Africa compare to competitors such as Dubai?` asks the BLSA.

It estimates that more than 50 000 foreigners working in SA face losing their status when their visas expire, purely because the Department of Home Affairs has been unable to process their applications in time.

It points out that SA has significant deficits in areas like technical skills. `We need to give international companies the confidence to plan on investments here without the fear that they will simply be unable to send their people because we cannot manage our bureaucracy,` states the BLSA.

`Next week, the president will be hosting the fifth South Africa Investment Conference, which is aimed to attract foreign investment to the country. The president could use the opportunity to announce a credible intervention to fix the visa mess...Organised business is eager to help.`

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Alberton Home Affairs weighs in on how to apply for a first-time ID book as a naturalised citizen and permanent residence permit holder. Alberton Home Affairs has confirmed that those born outside the country are issued with green bar-coded identity books and should go to specific home affairs offices for assistance. South African citizens are issued smart ID cards when they apply for an identity document. Should you lose, damage or have your ID book stolen, you can request a Temporary Identification Certificate (TIC).

All green ID book applicants, including naturalized citizens and permanent residence permit holders, must be referred and assisted at the nearest non-modernised offices.

The home affairs offices issuing green identity books include Temba, Mabopane, Carletonville, Orange Farm, Lenasia, Ennerdale and Eldorado Park.

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OPINION, Bernard Chiguvare: I left Zimbabwe to live in SA. I want to go back. This is why it’s hard

Many South Africans wonder why so many of us Zimbabweans came to be settled in their country, and wonder why we do not simply return to our homeland.

This is my story about my rural homestead in Zimbabwe that I felt forced to leave. I would like to go back and spend the rest of my life there, but it isn’t that simple.

From the early 1960s, I lived in Buhera District in Manicaland Province. I have a deep bond with this place, even though the soil is today very poor for farming.

In 1987 I got married. My uncle allocated me three hectares to build a family homestead. I was earning a salary that allowed me to immediately build a three-bedroomed house and also a small rondavel. Though my wish was to build a better home, I had limited resources.

We used to grow groundnuts and maize for our own consumption.

Economic meltdown

Then, around 1998, I became employed by the Zimbabwean Public Service Commission under the Department of Home Affairs, and I relocated my family to Harare, because I was working there. Later, I was transferred to Masvingo District.

During these years I used to employ someone to look after my home and the animals. I made sure that every holiday our family returned to our rural home.

In 2006, during the Zimbabwe economic meltdown, four of my six children were at boarding school. My salary had become tiny when converted to the South African rand or US dollar. I couldn’t even afford my accommodation. My resources were so strained that I had to let go of the person looking after my rural home. I still used to visit regularly, but I noticed the house was being burgled and vandalised.

It was a difficult situation. Should I leave my home to be vandalised so that I can just focus on my children’s education? I decided this was the best I could do, and I had to all but abandon my rural home.

But it soon became apparent that if I did not make a plan by the end of 2006, my children were going to be forced to drop out of school.

I sought advice from a friend, a teacher, who used to buy shoes from Bata Shoe Company in Zimbabwe to sell in South Africa. I tried to join him but it did not work out for me.

By 2007, I had noticed that a number of my friends had left for South Africa. My wife also went to Cape Town and was selling various things, such as brooms.

I asked myself, “Should I, too, leave Zimbabwe for South Africa?” I had worked for nine years under the Department of Home Affairs. What work could I look for in South Africa? I simply did not know. My salary had become worthless, so I left my job. In March 2007 I left for South Africa.

But always at the back of my mind was my rural and true home, where I wished to retire one day. I love the place �` the environment and its biodiversity. There is enough space for gardening and a bit of crop farming. I used to keep ten head of cattle, but three were stolen and the others I had to sell.

Home vandalised 

By 2010 my home had been completely vandalised. I have no idea who did it, but they not only stole everything �` our clothes, the three-piece lounge suite, the kitchen utensils �` they also made off with the window frames, the panes and the doors. It was distressing, but I had to remain steadfast, concentrating on the education of my children.

I eventually found someone to look after the place again, but when he visited his family during the Christmas holiday, he never returned. I have been told he was seeking work at a mine about 60km east of my home. No one was staying at the house.

In November last year, I returned to find that the roofs of the rondavel and the house had caved in. But I have started to renovate the place and I plan to extend it.

In 2009, the South African government introduced the Dispensation of Zimbabwean Permit, which became the Zimbabwean Special Permit (ZSP) in 2014 and the Zimbabwe Exemption Permit (ZEP) in 2017. Then it was announced that the ZEP would expire in June this year.

For all these years I could manage to support my family by working legally in South Africa. If the ZEP ends, I will have to return to Zimbabwe and live at my rural home.

I love my home and wish to stay there, but right now I am not sure how I will manage it financially.

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Hell Affairs, a South African was stuck in limbo for four years trying to prove her identity and citizenship

A mother of three had her ID blocked by Home Affairs leaving her in anguish, and unable to live a normal life. Expensively obtained affidavits, letters and a DNA test left officials unmoved about the lack of progress for years. 

Many South Africans have never considered what it would take to prove they are citizens of this land. For Thulisile Gumede, it took several trips from Gauteng to KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), collecting affidavits from former teachers, a letter from her village chief and a DNA test. It also took four years of her life. 

Gumede, a mother of three married to a Zimbabwean man, thought her ordeal was over when in 2022, Home Affairs confirmed it had unblocked her identity document.

Earlier, in 2017, when applying for her son’s identity document (ID), she found out that her ID had been blocked.

Blocked identity

This meant all three of her children would not be able to get IDs, which turned into a particular nightmare for her son Lungani, who was in matric at the time. 

“Every time he had to write an exam, he needed to bring an affidavit from the police explaining why he did not have an ID,” explained Gumede. 

She visited the Vereeniging Home Affairs office to try to get her ID unblocked. Nobody could explain the reason for the blocking, but officials said she had to prove her South African status. 

“My heart was so sore, I didn’t know what to do,” she said. 

Gumede was asked to attend a meeting at Home Affairs offices where she was asked which village she came from, the name of her chief and other details about her early life. “I was relaxed because I knew I am a South African.”

She recalled one of the officials remarked that her accent indicated she was a South African of Zulu descent. But this informal test was not enough to get her status back. 

She had to travel to both her mother’s and father’s villages, in rural KZN, to get affidavits from teachers and letters from people who knew her. 

“I grew up staying on my mom’s side and then, in Grade 10, I moved to my father’s side. I had to travel to both these places, Emangozi and KwaNgwanase. I needed to get my father’s documents,” she said. 

Thulisile Gumede and her sons Lungani Gumede and Mthembeni Shabalala were denied South African IDs and blocked by Home Affairs when applying for their documents. (Photo: Felix Dlangamandla)

Costs in time and money

All the while, time was ticking by. Trips to rural KZN were costing Gumede time and money, as she needed to take time off work and track down people who were no longer living in the same area. 

Despite collecting the documents, Gumede was told she also needed to provide, and pay for, a DNA test with her mother.

“They said my mother does not appear on my ID document. So, I had to bring my mom from KZN. I had to pay for that and paid for the DNA test for me and her,” she said.

This evidence was submitted in 2018, but still nothing happened for years. 

“I was sent around from pillar to post. I was praying all those years to let my identity come back to me. I was stuck. I was working but I was stuck. I couldn’t buy a car; I couldn’t buy a house.”

She felt embarrassed when colleagues talked about their progress in their lives. 

“I felt lost. I felt like I am nothing. If you don’t have an identity you are nothing.”

Gumede’s ID was eventually unblocked in February 2022, with no explanation given for the initial reason or the lengthy process.

She suspects her ID was blocked after she visited Zimbabwe several times in 2010 to see her in-laws, but no officials have confirmed or denied this.

“Everyone in my family is free in their country. It was only me [who had a blocked ID] and I was asking myself why I went to Zimbabwe. I was always emotional when I thought about this,” she said. 

Thinking that her children would no longer have their own ID problems, she returned to the Home Affairs offices to apply for her son’s ID. 

“When I went to Vereeniging Home Affairs, they told me my son’s ID was still blocked. I was hopeless. How can I give birth to my children who have no identity?” 

Thulisile Gumede and her sons Lungani Gumede and Mthembeni Shabalala. (Photo: Felix Dlangamandla)

Life in limbo

Lungani Gumede, now a 23-year-old student boilermaker, said his life was in limbo. He’s been unable to get a driver’s licence or open a bank account. Even writing exams at school is difficult.

“I look crazy sometimes when I tell people I don’t have an ID. It’s like I am not a citizen,” he said.

The Gumede family is one of more than 100 Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) clients whose ID documents have been blocked by Home Affairs.

The LHR has recently applied to join a court case on the issue as strategic litigants, asking the high court in Pretoria to find that the department should review its process of blocking IDs and provide a clear policy on how to resolve the issue.

800,000 blocked IDs

LHR says that up to 800,000 IDs have been blocked in South Africa. It argues that the process is unconstitutional because those whose IDs are blocked are not made aware of the move, and no clear process exists for them to challenge the decision. Cases are dealt with differently from office to office, and people often have to make a case for their citizenship at great expense. 

Lamenting how costly the process has been, Gumede said: “I want to make people aware that our government does not care about us. We are being treated as nothing. What about people who are not working? This thing [unblocking an ID] involves a lot of money.”

DM168 sent questions about Gumede’s case and the general practice of ID blocking to Ministry of Home Affairs spokesman Siya Qoza on Monday 12 March. He had not responded by Thursday 16 March. 

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