Zimbabwe Exemption Permit: Here is what you can take back to Zimbabwe when permits are discontinued

News24 – 16 August 2022

All holders of the ZEP permit had until 31 December 2021 to apply for a visa to stay in South Africa.

AFP

• About 200 000 Zimbabweans in South Africa are expected to return to their homeland.
• Anyone 16 or older can bring back a car worth up to R700 000 without paying import duty fees.
• Returning Zimbabweans can bring an unlimited quantity of household furniture and appliances.

It's four months until Zimbabweans in South Africa under the Zimbabwe Exemption Permits (ZEP) dispensation will be deemed illegal immigrants, after the South African government decided to discontinue these permits. 

About 200 000 Zimbabweans living and working in South Africa are set to leave the country and return to their homeland.

While many are hoping for a reprieve, Zimbabwe's foreign affairs and international relations minister Frederick Shava said this week that those returning "are always welcome back home".

Shava was in Pretoria to meet with his South African counterpart Naledi Pandor.

Those returning can bring a motor vehicle of their choice into the country without having to pay duty fees, but they will have to pay VAT of 14.5%.

Normally, duty for a private vehicle in Zimbabwe is 100% of its value, including freight charges, so only paying 14.5% is a significant reprieve.

The car should not be older than 10 years. Anyone bringing a car from South Africa needs to have owned it for at least six months before the expiry of their permit. 

Anyone over the age of 16 can bring in a vehicle, according to a notice by the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority. The notice read:

The suspension is granted to individuals, including their spouses and children, who have previously resided or have been employed in Zimbabwe and are returning to Zimbabwe after having resided outside Zimbabwe for a period of not less than two years.

The car should be worth R700 000 or less. The owner will also need to "report to the nearest customs office once every year, failure of which full duty waived at the time of importation shall become due and payable".

There's no limit to personal property such as furniture and household goods that people can bring back home. These goods, unlike vehicles, aren't subject to import duty.

Those intending to use the duty-free import facility should present proof that they were working or studying in South Africa.

If the goods are sold within the first two years, then duty becomes due.

The Zimbabwean government has no policy in place or grants for returning nationals to start a new venture or business when they arrive home, and most returning residents will have to depend on their savings.

The government plans to hire buses to take those who cannot afford to pay for their transport to various parts of Zimbabwe.

Shava said:

This has been on the cards for some time since the South African government pronounced the end of ZEP permits.

www.samigration.com

The cost of moving to Mauritius as an entrepreneur or retiree

Businesstech – 16 August 2022

Mauritius is rapidly expanding real estate investment opportunities for South African buyers as savvy developers sink capital into smaller designer builds that offer far more privacy than traditional resort properties without sacrificing beachfront living.

And according to High Street Auctions managing director James Dall, the South African market appetite for these properties is in overdrive.

“Resorts are fantastic options for families who want to buy holiday homes in the thick of the hustle and bustle, where amenities and clubs abound to keep children entertained.

“The South African buyer demographic in Mauritius is changing, though, in large part due to the island’s economic growth, stability and exceptionally welcoming foreign residence policies – not to mention the obvious lifestyle attractions that make it a perennial tourism hotspot.

“The expanding demographic includes retirees, entrepreneurs, and commercial emigrants; a massive market segment for which long-term resort living just won’t work.”

Their ideal alternative, according to Dall, lies in developments like Flic-en-Flac’s Eight Palms; a designer building comprising just seven apartments that will be located directly opposite one of Mauritius’ most beautiful beaches.

“High Street will be auctioning all seven sectional title units on August 11, with construction expected to finish within 14 months of the sale.

Families relocating for business purposes are just a 30-minute commute from the bustling commercial centres of Vacoas/Phoenix and Curepipe, said Dall.

“Educational facilities are top-notch as well. Westcoast International Primary and Secondary schools are a mere 6km from Flic-en-Flac and offer English-medium tuition with UK-based syllabi – the International Primary Curriculum, the Cambridge Lower Secondary curriculum and the IGCSE, which are external exams set and marked by Cambridge in England.”

Dall said South Africans are flocking to Mauritius in such numbers because investor-friendly government policies make it easy to obtain long-term residence permits

“An excellent example is self-employed entrepreneurs, who are excluded from visa eligibility in more countries than not. Mauritius, on the other hand, welcomes them with open arms.

“Entrepreneurs can apply for a Self-Employed Occupation Permit by depositing $35,000 (about R595,000) into a Mauritian bank account. Their permit is valid for 10 years, with the main renewal criteria being the ability to prove an annual business income of MUR 800,000 (about R300,000) from the 3^rd year of registration.

“The process is even easier for South African retirees looking to spend their golden years in paradise. Whereas previously this residence permit covered only three years, it is now a standard 10 years with the base requirement that the individual earns a recurring income of $1,500 (R25,500 at current rates) per month.

“The extension from three to 10 years gives retirees certainty about their future in the country, especially if they’ve bought property. And as an additional incentive to retirees to choose the idyllic island as their permanent home, after three years of residency on their initial visa, they can apply for it to be extended from 10 years to 20.”

Dall said an additional incentive for South Africans to purchase property in Mauritius is that visitors are allowed to stay in the country for six months a year.

He said that Mauritius has also managed to craft a strong growth-oriented developmental path that enabled the country to achieve one of the highest per capita income levels in Africa, and propelled it into the league of high-income countries with a Gross National Income per capita of $12,740 (R216,500) in 2019.

www.samigration.com

Home Affairs tightens rules on passport applications and collections

16 Aug 2022 -  News 24

As part of measures to protect the security of South Africa’s passport, Motsoaledi announced the end of transferable and third-party collections and a new activation process that only applicants can complete.

In a bid to clamp down on illegal immigration and restore faith in the South African passport, Home Affairs Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi said the “flexibility” given to these applications and collections is being withdrawn.

Motsoaledi made this announcement as part of efforts to restore the integrity of the South African passport after a public outcry.

Issues of fraud and corruption linked to South African passports, has negatively impacted South Africa’s image.

Motsoaledi highlighted cases involving illegal immigrants and department officials.

“South Africa’s passport has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. It is for this reason that the Department of Home Affairs has to do something – because this state of affairs cannot be allowed to continue unabated,” Motsoaledi said.

As part of measures to protect the security of South Africa’s passport, Motsoaledi announced the end of transferable and third-party collections and a new activation process that only applicants can complete.

Current processes for passport applications permit the document to be picked up at any home affairs office in the country, granted the applicant requests a transfer and also allows for third-party collection, however, this has been scrapped.

Passports will only be collected from offices where they were applied for and the applicant is responsible for collecting the passport.

Passports will be activated by a fingerprint, linked to a photo. On collection, everything has to correlate to the data in the national identity database.

Only parents or legal guardians can apply and collect passports for minors.

The department also said it will be withdrawing transit visa exemptions for Bangladeshi and Pakistani nationals from August 1, following nationals from these two countries having attempted to illegally pass through South African airports.

Travellers from Bangladesh or Pakistan are now required to apply for a visa when transiting through South Africa.

www.samigration.com

Zim exemption permits: Private lawyers hired to address backlogs - Motsoaledi

EWN – 16 August 2022

The future of thousands of Zimbabweans hangs in the balance as the permit expires in December.

JOHANNESBURG - Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said that they have hired private lawyers to address backlogs as the expiry of Zimbabwean exemption permit looms.

The future of thousands of Zimbabweans hangs in the balance as the permit expires in December.

In November last year, government announced the decision to discontinue the permit by December this year after its initial introduction in 2009.

That means that Zimbabweans will have to legitimise their stay through other forms of residency authorisation.

To acquire a work permit in South Africa, Zimbabweans will have to prove that they possess a special skill or they will have to apply for an exemption from the labour department.

That is where many are stuck as the department is dealing with backlogs.

When asked about this, Home Affairs Minister Motsoaledi has chosen to remain tight-lipped.

"What I can tell you is that we have put together a team that is led by the former DG in the Presidency, Dr Lubisi. We put him together with a team of lawyers from the private sector, who will sit everyday to process these documents to make sure that we don't develop any backlog," the minister said.

The Helen Suzman Foundation is approaching the courts to challenge the abolishment of the Zimbabwean exemption permit certificate, something the Home Affairs Department is determined to defend.

www.samigration.com

Why South Africa is closing its doors to migrants it once welcomed

Yahoo – 14 August 2022

When Petunia Sibanda came to South Africa from Zimbabwe in 2003, she arrived the way most people she knew did in those days – late at night, crossing over a dry patch of the Limpopo River that slices the two countries from each other, pretending not to see the crocodiles in the distance.

For several years, she lived her life in South Africa on the margins, constantly afraid her lack of legal status would be found out and she would be sent back home to a country where the economy was in free fall.

Then Ms. Sibanda found a lifeline. In 2011, she heard about a special visa for Zimbabweans, which would allow them to live and work in South Africa legally.

“I could live freely for the first time,” she says.

But the reprieve was always temporary. Last November, the South African government confirmed that it would no longer renew the 178,000 so-called Zimbabwe Exemption Permits it had issued. All ZEP holders, including Ms. Sibanda, had until the end of 2022 to get a different visa, or leave the country permanently.

Ms. Sibanda and tens of thousands of others in her position now face an existential question. Do they stay in the country where they have made their lives for the last decade, starting families and businesses, and become undocumented? Or do they return to the country they fled all those years ago, where conditions are perhaps even worse than a decade ago? How South Africa handles the issue in the coming months will set the tone in a region that, like elsewhere in the world, is grappling with growing xenophobia amid shrinking resources.

“We love our country, but we have nothing to go back to,” says Ms. Sibanda, whose four children were all born in South Africa.

Political points

Immigration has long been a hot-button political issue in South Africa. The country’s relative wealth, developed industries, and expansive legal rights for foreigners – at least on paper

www.samigration.com