Home affairs has dropped central adjudication of visas, after months of complaints 

Business Insider SA | 14 December 2022

The department of home affairs has reversed a decision to centralise the adjudication of long-term visas.

• That plan lasted for only a couple of months, and did not go at all well.

• Embassies – previously accused of sometimes endangering national security or harming the economy – are now back in charge.

As of 1 September, South Africa is no longer centralising the adjudication of long-term visas, the department of home affairs (DHA) confirmed on Tuesday.

That brings to an end a fraught six-month period for those who applied for such visas, previously handled by individual South African missions abroad, and makes consular officials responsible again for deciding who is let in to South Africa

Visa specialists Xpatweb first noted the reversal on the weekend, saying it expected an announcement from the department on the transitional arrangement for visas already in process.

The DHA told Business Insider South Africa only that it "did issue a new directive which came into effect on Thursday 01 September 2022". It did not provide a copy of the directive, despite repeated requests, and has made no public statement on the matter.

Extreme delays in issuing such visas – with delays facilitation companies described as unprecedented – have been a significant headache for foreign companies investing and doing business in South Africa, Business Leadership SA CEO Busisiwe Mavuso told the News24 On The Record conference on Thursday, the same day the reversal came into effect.

WATCH: Home affairs officials caught on their phones as people queue to be helped

The Department of Home Affairs has said it will investigate after officials were filmed using their cellphones while on duty. Video footage of two officials on their phones at the Tongaat office in KwaZulu-Natal was widely circulated on social media. In the video members of the public can be seen waiting to be helped. Acting home affairs director general Thulani Mavuso has...

Those affected have included companies that signed up to President Cyril Ramaphosa's investment drive, but have since said delays nearing a year in processing work visas for critical foreign staff meant they could not start work.

Some companies expressed acute frustration because they could find no way to reach a department official who could provide even a vague prediction of how long a visa would take – or who could even confirm that a visa application had been accepted as properly lodged – making it impossible to plan moves for employees who needed to secure places in schools for children and move their households across oceans. 

Until Thursday, all work visa applications with a duration of more than three months had to be sent to Pretoria for a decision by the director general of the DHA, in an effort to create consistency – and prevent corruption. Visa facilitators said missions were told the DHA was concerned about reports of arbitrary demands for documents, with the implication that these were subtle solicitations for bribes. They were also told that only central decision-making could balance the need for national security with the need to allow foreign investors to move with speed.

But centralisation was a disaster. Visas that previously took between four and eight weeks to issue suddenly took a minimum of 12 weeks – and consultants reported that the reality was closer to eight months.

Their clients, those consultants said, could not wait that long, and would simply take their business to another country.

Visa facilitation companies believe the consular service divisions of missions – still fully staffed to process visas – may now be able to bring turnaround times down to as low as two weeks.

www.samigration.com

Question NW4361 to the Minister of Home Affairs

PMG | 08 December 2022  

(a) What is the current backlog across all visa categories, (b) what has been the average response time for each visa category and (c) by what date does his department envisage to have cleared the current backlog with regard to all visa categories?

Reply:

a) The current backlog across all visa categories is 56543.

b The average response time varies for different visa categories; there are different turnaround times for applications listed in the departments APP and those that are not listed in the APP.

• The turnaround time for applications for critical skills visas is 4 weeks, as indicated in the APP. Currently the average response time is 4 to 10 weeks.
• The turnaround time for business and general work visas is 8 weeks, as indicated in the APP. Currently the average response time is 8 to 14 weeks.

c) The department envisages to have cleared the current backlog by June 2024 for all categories of visas.

www.samigration.com

Home Affairs is trying to clear a backlog of 56,543 visas – which may be done by June 2024 

Business Insider SA | 15 December 2022

• South Africa's Department of Home Affairs is struggling with a major visa backlog.

• The backlog includes more than 56,000 applications across all visa categories.

• Home Affairs hopes to have cleared these by June 2024.

• In the meantime, average turnaround times for visas have grown far beyond what the department's performance plan dictates. 

South Africa's Department of Home Affairs (DHA) is battling its way through a vast backlog of visa applications, which it hopes to have cleared by June 2024.

Home Affairs is drowning in outstanding visa applications. This backlog, made worse by the department's disastrous decision to centralise the adjudication of long-term visas, has led to longer processing times, frustrated foreign applicants, and missed work opportunities.

This seemingly never-ending backlog has caused the DHA to issue consecutive blanket extensions to visa and waiver applicants, with the most recent deadline given as 31 March 2023.

Under fierce pressure, the DHA has been accused, by IBN Immigration Solutions, of unjustly rejecting applications. "Now, it seems that Home Affairs officials have clear KPIs to adjudicate X number [around 20] applications per day," noted IBN Immigration Solutions' Andreas Krensel in November. "This leads to a very, very high number of rejections."

And according to a recent parliamentary answer given by the Minister of Home Affairs, Aaron Motsoaledi, there's no quick fix to clear the visa backlog.

"The current backlog across all visa categories is 56,543," said Motsoaledi in response to a question posed by DA MP Thembisile Khanyile.

"The department envisages to have cleared the current backlog by June 2024 for all categories of visas."

In the meantime, the turnaround times for visa applications have grown far beyond those listed in the department's Annual Performance Plan (APP).

The turnaround time for applications for critical skills visas is four weeks, according to the DHA's APP. Currently, the average response time is four to 10 weeks.

Similarly, it should, according to the APP, take Home Affairs eight weeks to process business and general work visas. Currently, the average response time is eight to 14 weeks.

www.samigration.com

Letter: If only Motsoaledi should have focused on Home Affairs instead of fanning xenophobia

IOL  - 12 Dcember 2022 

I am surprised I do not hear of any nominations for the Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi to become the president of the ANC after all the xenophobic workouts that kept him busy and propelled him suddenly into the headlines in the past few months.

But then again that is not unexpected regarding the ANC cadre of today. These so-called leaders sleep the term, only to wake up a few months before an election with exaggerated little details of little importance. And if they are not sleeping, they are either shocked or rushing to scenes, and this is the highest standard of service delivery and governance.

Think of the transport minister who waited until a few months before an elective conference to announce the big news that the department responsible for “constructing” roads will now strive with all its might to repair potholes, and that identifying ghost workers is a fulfilment of a mandate and election promises.

Then the energy minister and his president came up with the brilliant strategy of simply placing a white person before a severely complex energy problem and load shedding.

So meticulous are these ANC cadres that they spend a good deal of time reading the newspapers and identifying threats to their political status, that a legendary sports presenter like Robert Marawa, who built his career without political help, was ruthlessly put aside as a lesson for upsetting politicians.

Motsoaledi too probably thought this was the best way to be relevant, as he suddenly became a hero for xenophobic sentiments and actions.

Meantime, he neglected the vast role of oversight in his department which resulted in a shameful bill going before Parliament. Not surprising, because an acceptable and constitutionally sound bill would require a lot of work, away from the headlines.

Now South Africa faces a constitutional crisis because the politicians have betrayed our nation by setting up a stupid bill aimed at frustrating independent candidates. If Motsoaledi had focused on the mechanics of Home Affairs instead of xenophobia he would have had the time to design a good bill.

Moreover, Home Affairs would not need his errant and attentionseeking visits and “best selfspokesperson” tendencies, as those already employed would simply do their tasks. We are led by dangerous clowns who are far from funny because busybodies, without ideas and combined with idle hands, are the factories of evil.

www.samigration.com

Zimbabwean lady with fake South African ID, born in 200 July 1991, left people in stitches

Twitter |12 December 2022

In July of 1991, a Zimbabwean woman who presented a falsified birth certificate indicating her place of birth as South Africa had the entire world in stitches.

There has been a long-running black market in identifying documents sold both by the Department of Home Affairs and by identity theft rings.

It was reported by General Masuku that a Zimbabwean illegal immigrant was using a forged South African passport. The only item that seems off is the birth year, which is shown as 1991 instead of the proper year.

In an effort to combat this type of fraud, the African National Congress, the ruling party in the Republic of South Africa, has proposed a smart identity card and a move away from the green book.

It is only possible for a person to enter our world between January 1 and December 31 due to he fact that a month can have no more than 31 days.

The majority of South Africans would disagree that the name in question is commonly used there. Everyone in possession of one is automatically considered an alien in our midst. It is for this reason that we must conduct a thorough forensic audit of our own government in order to identify and remove corrupt officials.

www.samigration.com