Home Affairs, where
permanent residency applications go to gather dust in Covid-19 State
of Disaster
Daily Maverick
- 26 August 2021
The Home
Affairs Office in Roodepoort, South Africa. The Department of Home Affairs is a
custodian, protector and verifier of the identity and status of citizens and
other residents in South Africa. (Photo by Gallo Images/Fani Mahuntsi)
Home Affairs should resume processing permanent
residency applications that have been suspended since March 2020 ‘as soon as
possible, with measures to reduce this backlog’, according to a Presidency
document from earlier this month.
But it’s
only from 1 January 2022 the permanent residency applications would again be
considered, although appeals against permit decisions restart from October
2021, according to Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi’s State of Disaster
directions in the 30 June 2021 Government Gazette.
The
permanent residency application stoppage over the past 17 months has left tens
of thousands of people – 33,700 by Home Affairs’ own count – in
limbo.
When
asked whether halting the processing of permanent residence application was not
a violation of the Immigration Act – its preamble stipulates expeditious
issuing of residence permits though simplified procedures based on predictable
and reasonable criteria – the Home Affairs written response was it “is offering
services in line with the State of National Disaster and the ministerial
directions. This is within the provisions of law”.
The State
of Disaster was declared on 15 March 2020, and has been renewed without fail
since then. South Africa remains in Covid-19 lockdown; on Thursday, the country
marked lockdown day 518.
The
Presidency document, seen by Daily Maverick, was presented earlier in
August to what’s called the National Economic Recovery Committee.
“The
Department of Home Affairs has suspended the processing of applications for
temporary and permanent residence visas or citizenship since March 2020,
resulting in a large backlog of applications. The processing of applications
needs to resume as soon as possible, with measures to reduce this backlog,”
says the document in the section on improving the regulatory framework for
skilled immigration.
The
committee is understood to be part of implementing
the Economic Reconstruction and Recover Plan President Cyril Ramaphosa
presented in Parliament in mid-October 2020, and works alongside Operation
Vulindlela, the joint initiative between the Presidency and National Treasury
to undo bottlenecks to key structural reforms for economic growth.
“Investors
and industries find the process of obtaining a scarce or critical skills work
permit to be lengthy and onerous and sometimes ineffective at solving their
short-term skills shortages,” said the Operation Vulindlela presentation to MPs
on Wednesday.
Delays
and difficulties to obtain scarce skills, work and permanent residency permits
have long been a bone of contention, also at the National Economic Development
and Labour Council (Nedlac) where business has called on the government to
facilitate and streamline work, scarce skills and permanent residency
applications.
For
immigration specialist lawyer Gary Eisenberg, the suspension of processing
permanent residence applications since March 2020 “has been the undoing of the
entire immigration system”.
The
60-day turnaround time regulations stipulated on paper already had “evaporated”
– a four- to five-year permanent residency application process has become
routine – in a complex mix of factors, including resignation of senior Home
Affairs officials.
“The lack
of proper adjudication capacity has effectively transformed an architecturally
simplistic process into a conflagration for many people,” Eisenberg told Daily
Maverick via email.
“Foreigners,
who have invested in this country in one way or another – buying a home,
keeping cash in a South African bank, employing a single South African as a
domestic or in any other capacity, or local business interests – can no longer
rely on the visa application process to live an ordinary, secure existence in
this country. Coupled to the quality of decision-making are the endemic delays
in visa adjudication forcing people to wait five to eight months for decisions
in the routine flow… Obtaining permanent residence status is therefore relied
on as the ultimate antidote to this bureaucratic failure.”
No one
yet has challenged Home Affairs’ decision to suspend processing permanent
residency applications, seemingly as courts have erred on the side of caution
to largely uphold Covid-19 motivated executive directives.
From
individuals, who remain vulnerable pending the finalisation of permanent
residency even if they invest money, conduct business and create employment, to
businesses which have long complained of residence permit, visa and immigration
difficulties, and immigration specialists, to now also some circles in
government, dissatisfaction with Home Affairs seems widespread.
Coincidentally,
the department’s immigration services have missed six out of its 10 targets,
yet overspent by 101% its R1,26-billion allocation, according to Parliament’s
research unit summary of performance in the final quarter of the 2020/21
financial year prepared for MPs last week. The overspend was attributed to
expenditure on meals at Lindela repatriation facility, and legal fees.
On the
backlog of permanent residence applications the Presidency document described
as “large”, Home Affairs differed, and downplayed the numbers.
The
backlog currently stands at 33,700 permanent residence applications, but this
predated the Covid-19 pandemic, and a team has been put together to deal with
the backlog.
“In July
2021, the department analysed the applications it received for permanent
resident permits between January 2015 and December 2020. In this period 119,517
applications were received,” said the Home Affairs written response of
Wednesday evening.
“The
analysis of this data indicates that, contrary to popular belief, most of the
applicants to whom Home Affairs issues the highest number of permanent
residence, are in the category of ‘spousal and dependent’ applications. More
than 68,400 applications over this period fell into this category. These
applications do not require the spouse of the dependent to be economically
active.”
On those
numbers, it seems Home Affairs has issued just 17,417 residence permits for
primary applicants, not spouses or dependents. Sections 26 and 27 of the
Immigration Act allow permanent residency applications from those who for at
least five years have had work permits, including corporate permits, those with
special skills, or those wanting to open a business or retirees.
Home
Affairs told Daily Maverick it “regularly reviews the services it is
offering to take into account the threat posed by Covid-19” and thus decided to
temporarily suspend processing of permanent residence applications.
“There
were no applications coming in during this period,” said the department, adding
other reasons included a ban on international travel, port closures and the
closure of the department’s VFS service provider offices to minimise contact
services.
But Home
Affairs referred a question whether it is finding itself under pressure over
permanent residence and other immigration measures, to the Cabinet
spokesperson.
“Decisions
of Cabinet are taken on the basis of what is before it,” said Government
Communication and Information System [GCIS] Director-General Phumla Williams,
who speaks for Cabinet, on Thursday.
New
immigration documents may well eventually be found in Cabinet for
consideration.
The
Presidency document outlines a review of the immigration policy framework and
processes for skilled immigration, led by Mavuso Msimang, a former Home Affairs
director-general, to coordinate inputs from the departments of Home Affairs;
Trade, Industry and Competition; Employment and Labour; and Higher Education and
Training.
That
four-month review is under way and is set to be completed by the end of October
2021 to “provide recommendations on the changes that are required to the policy
framework for skilled immigration”.
Skilled
immigration, and permanent residency, are part of this drive, mentioned as key
in Ramaphosa’s February 2021 State of the Nation Address to promote economic
growth and attracting skills.
And
while Home Affairs did publish its draft list of scarce skills for comment
within the presidential deadline, it included some
odd skills like camping ground manager.
The
public comments are currently being analysed, and Home Affairs’ target date for
releasing a final list of scarce skills has emerged as 17 September 2021.
Whether
that will happen remains to be seen. Also uncertain is the impact, if any, on
an immigration regimen that has suspended processing permanent residence
applications until 1 January 2022.
www.samigration.com
