Rude, unhelpful and unfriendly`: Home affairs booking system has Western Cape citizens seething

• The Department of Home Affairs launched a new appointment booking system last year.

• But citizens in the Western Cape have complained about poor service delivery and communication.

• It appears that the website may also have been affected by glitches in the past.

Ten months after the Department of Home Affairs launched a new online appointment booking system at select offices across the country, South Africans have described `chaos` and poor service delivery at branches in the Western Cape.

The department launched its Branch Appointment Booking System (BABS) in May last year.

Many people who spoke to News24 recently complained that the system discriminates against citizens who don`t have access to computers, smartphones and the internet. The primary complaint is that whatever system is in place is not being communicated to people ahead of time.

After witnessing about 100 people waiting in the sun and hearing numerous complaints, News24 couldn`t find one official to explain what system was in place at the Barrack Street office in Cape Town on Friday, 3 February.

Jill Francke arrived early one morning and waited in what she thought was the correct queue for an hour, before being told she was in the wrong line. She was forced to the back of another queue.

`There was no way of knowing which queue we were supposed to be [in], so only then did we discover there are queues for identity documents, passports, and temporary identity documents.`

Francke said she had been queuing for five hours and described home affairs department staff as `rude, unhelpful and unfriendly`.

Kaylin Snyman complained about queuing for almost eight hours to apply for a new identity document, while accompanied by her diabetic mother. Her mother - Veronica Pietersen - said she paid R10 to rent a chair for four hours to sit down.

Eileen Dyson, 65, described how she spent four hours queuing one Tuesday without being helped. She returned to wait in line once again for seven hours.

She said:

I`m unemployed, but every time I must find R50 travel money to get into town and back home again.

A man waiting outside the Barrack Street office, Patrick van Niekerk, complained that no one had communicated what steps they should follow.

`Other people have arrived and been allowed in immediately, but there is no ticket system, so we don`t know what`s going on.`

Officials at the office weren`t able to give News24 much information on what the standard operating procedures were.

`It`s not fair`

One manager indicated that they had `sent the van to assist with the queue`.

A van was indeed parked outside the building, but the occupant wasn`t assisting anyone and declined to respond to any of our questions.

Back at the office, another manager refused to explain what system was in place, but provided News24 with an A4 page subtitled `Waging a war against long queues`, which explained the `Branch Appointment Booking System (BABS)`.

Similar scenes were described by people queuing in Stellenbosch and Somerset West.

A Somerset West pensioner - who preferred to remain anonymous - described the `terrible experience` she had standing outside in the heat for six hours to collect a passport.

She said:

I can`t understand why I must wait for long because all I needed to do was collect a passport.

`It`s not fair on the people that wait in the queue from 05:00. They go early to get help, but then others who have booked online get attended to within minutes.

`What about the thousands who cannot book online?

`And when there is load shedding, everything is off, while you have to stand for two hours, and when load shedding is over, then the computers have to reboot, which takes another hour.`

Online gremlins

There also appear to be problems with the online booking system.

A woman identifying herself as `Lisa of Cape Town` wrote to the minister on the People`s Assembly website in August last year about glitches on the home affairs department website: 

`Your website is absolutely terrible! It has been since we were told to use the online booking system. Myself and friends and family and neighbours and random strangers fight every single day to firstly get the website to actually load, then secondly, when it does, you log in and click next, then the website gives an error of `Service not available`, then you try again, and the website does not load.`

Department officials declined to respond to questions or were unavailable.

www.samigration.com

US Permit Some H 1B & L1 Visa Holders to Renew Their Visas Without Leaving the Country

Some H-1B visa holders may soon be eligible to renew their visas without being obliged to leave the country after the US State Department has announced that it is looking forward to further easing these visa procedures.

According to an announcement provided by Mint, all employees working in the United States through the H-1B and L-1 visa programs will soon be eligible to renew their status domestically, following the pilot program that was introduced by the State Department earlier this year, VisaGuide.World reports.

However, despite the fact that the new changes will bring significant benefits to their holders, it has still not been confirmed how many renewal applicants the new pilot program is eligible to accommodate.

Recently, in a report provided by Bloomberg, the deputy assistant secretary for visa services in the Bureau of Consular Affairs, Julie Stufft, considered that restoring stateside visa renewals will reduce the workload of consular offices in other countries and will also minimize the workload of consular offices.

“We all saw during the pandemic how difficult it was for these people to return to their home country and often not be able to get visa appointments to come back to their home, the United States. That’s what we’re trying to address initially with this,” she pointed out in this regard.

Stufft emphasized the fact that the stateside renewal will be eligible to all H and L visa holders and could be further expanded.

The US States Department has been urged many times to add the domestic renewal option by business groups and immigration lawyers as part of efforts to further ease visa procedures for foreign workers.

International workers who travel abroad are not eligible to enter again in the United States if they don’t have valid visa stamps. The spread of the Coronavirus, among others, also led to long wait times for appointments during the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving a large number of workers stuck outside, thus bringing new difficulties for employers.

However, the new changes are expected to have a positive effect and further facilitate visa procedures for workers and employers.

In this regard, the director of government relations at the American Immigration Lawyers Association,  Shev Dalal-Dheini, while supporting the recent changes, said that the need for such a step to be taken became even more apparent with the delays in visa processing, after, according to her, a large number of people were left in limbo.

The Person in Specialty Visa, also known as an H-1B visa, permits US employers to bring international workers engaged in specific fields such as accountants, professors, IT specialists, lawyers, etc., to the US in order to work there and thus contribute in filling out labour shortages.

At the same time, L-1 Visa is a US temporary work visa which permits internationals to work in the US for a period of three months to five years.

www.samigration.com

Mumbai: Man with bogus papers deported from South Africa, booked

The immigration officers at CSMIA approached the police and got an offence registered against 

Mumbai: Man with bogus papers deported from South Africa, booked | representative pic

Mumbai: The Sahar police have booked a 29-year-old Gujarat native after he was deported by South African immigration officials as they found that his Permanent Resident Permit Card was forged.

According to the police, on Tuesday morning, JJ Patel, a resident of Gujarat, arrived at the Bureau of Immigration office at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA). He had gone to South Africa in March 2019 on a visit visa and there he started working in a restaurant. Since his visit visa period had ended, he got his visa period extended and based on that extended visa, he stayed in South Africa till last year.

Booked for forgery and cheating

Since Patel wanted to stay in South Africa permanently, he got in touch with his friend there and got a Permanent Resident Permit Card issued and in Nov 2022, visited India from South Africa. On Feb 5, Patel left for South Africa where immigration officers checked his Permanent Resident Permit Card and found it to be fake. He was then deported back to India.

The immigration officers at CSMIA approached the police and got an offence registered against Patel. He has been booked under sections 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 465 (forgery), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) and 471 (using as genuine a forged document or electronic record) of the Indian Penal Code.

www.samigration.com

Another loose thread left hanging in South Africa

President Cyril Ramaphosa has again reaffirmed the government’s intention to introduce a remote working visa repeating a promise made a year ago to help solve South Africa’s growing skills crisis.

Despite the stated intention, however, the president has given no further details on the plan, nor any timelines associated with it. Meanwhile, repeated comments from the Department of Home Affairs on the matter show that zero progress has been made to make these visas a reality.

Responding to several parliamentary Q&As in 2022, Home Affairs minister Aaron Motsoaledi stated plainly that there are no provisions for such a visa in South Africa’s laws as such, there are no plans to launch one.

“The current visa categories are legislated by the Immigration Act No. 13 of 2002. In its current form, the Immigration Act does not make provision for digital nomad eVisa. Therefore, there are no plans to implement a digital nomad e-visa,” he said at the time.

This has become a sore point for those involved in South Africa’s tourism industry.

According to the City of Cape Town, it has been pushing for a remote worker visa since the lifting of lockdown, after the Covid-19 crisis wiped out the travel and hospitality sectors in the country.

“Since then, we have been lobbying for the introduction of a remote working visa because of its massive economic spinoffs for the industry. Our research shows that a special visa would help attract more international visitors, particularly ‘digital nomads’ who can work virtually from anywhere in the world,” it said.

The city said that working tourists tend to spend up to R50,000 during their stays and that over 40 countries around the world have already adopted these special visas to boost their own economies.

“If our visa system is not revised and improved, we stand to lose out to destinations with less arduous administrative platforms. Remote workers have exploded onto the travel scene and, according to one report of an incentive programme in Oklahoma in the USA, digital nomads generated nearly $20 million in additional local gross domestic product.

“With a special visa, South Africa stands to realise such gains,” it said.

In lieu of an actual plan of action from Ramaphosa, the city is proposing an amendment to Section 11 of the Immigration Act, which relates to an extension of visas beyond 90 days for specific activities.

Through an amendment, the Act could include the following requirements:

• An applicant must provide evidence of employment abroad, as well as a sufficient income from such employment or own business registered abroad;

• Prohibit the applicant’s work activities in South Africa;

• Allow the applicant’s dependants to accompany them on application.

“If South Africa were to implement such strategies, we could indeed create a tourism-related job in every home in the country. Whether you’re in aviation, logistics, transportation, boat-building, hospitality, retail, design, or clean energy, tourism relates to your work because it brings clients to your door,” it said.

While South Africa has made no forward movement on nomad or remote work visas, some measures to address the skills crisis in the country were introduced in the last 12 months.

Most notably, Home Affairs published an updated critical skills list and moved to fast-track critical skill visas in the country. An apparent collapse of visa processing in August 2022 led to a significant backlog forming by the end of the year, however.

The backlog is only expected to be cleared up by June 2023.

www.samigration.com

SA faces largest exodus: Zimbabweans open up as permit expiry date looms

This follows a directive by Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi stating that the six-month extension of the Zimbabwean Exemption Permits (ZEP) would be the last extension, bringing the ZEPs to an end come June 30.According to the “Country Report South Africa: Complementary pathways and the Zimbabwean Dispensation Project” authored by UCT associate professor Dr Fatima Khan and UCT’s refugee rights unit, this will impact 178000 holders of the temporary protection permit. The permits were due to expire on December 31, 2022, prior to the extension granted.The ZEPs were the government’s temporary response to the large numbers of Zimbabweans entering the country from 2008 due to economic and political precarity, placing strain on the asylum-seeker system. At the time, the Musina refugee reception office on the Zimbabwean border was receiving more than 1 000 asylum-seeker applications daily.

On September 2, 2010, the South African government announced the Dispensation Zimbabwean Project (DZP) permit lasting four years, which was extended for four years in August 2014, and renamed the Zimbabwean Special Permit (ZSP).

Another extension was granted for three years, ending in December 2021, with the permit now re-branded as the Zimbabwean Exemption Permit (ZEP).

The grace period given until June 30, 2023 was to allow for ZEP holders to apply for alternate status in South Africa, Dr Khan noted.

According to the paper, the 2008 crisis in Zimbabwe emerged due to state violence by the Zimbabwean ruling party Zanu-PF, which saw opponents and dissidents persecuted.

With a general election scheduled for 2023, Zimbabweans feel that the decision to end the permit was largely political for numerous reasons, including gaining support among South Africans over its staunch position of foreign migration into the country.

Zimbabweans who have spent over a decade in South Africa, opened up about the uncertainties over the future and what would await them in Zimbabwe.

Grassy Park resident and painter Nicholas Mukalela, 47, came to South Africa in 2009. Mukalela said his decision to leave was due to how expensive it had been to simply live in Zimbabwe.

The father of five was later joined by his wife, who works as a domestic worker, in 2011.

“In Zimbabwe, I was doing my own business. I was buying and selling tyres. Things were very tough. There was nothing good there. That’s why I decided to come here. I first came alone and then I called my wife to come here so that she can help me with some other stuff.”

In Zimbabwe, his two children, 14 and 10, are still attending school and are cared for by his sister-in-law. He has been working in construction since arriving in the country, specialising in painting and carpentry.

Mukalela sought legal advice to see if there are any options available which would allow him to stay in South Africa.

“It is very expensive to talk with the lawyer but I just do it because I’ve got no other option. Because I want to be here for now because things in my country are not yet right. It’s very difficult. Even if I go back there, my children, I don’t think they’re going to manage, for them to go to school,” Mukalela said.

“People they are fighting, they are killing each other. The politics there are not good. So what I am trying to do is, I just want to make my children grow (up).”

A Cape Town nail technician, Rufaro said some Zimbabweans have already started leaving as more countries open up following the Covid-19 pandemic.

She said Zimbabweans have been paying a lot of money for the renewal of permits over the years. Some had failed to make the payment, resulting in a non-renewal, but they remained in the country.

“People are not just going to walk out of here. Their lives are here and because other people are already living without documents, they’ll be like, ‘I`ll just be like the next person so I’ll also stay’.”

The cheapest way to leave would be by bus, with operators expected to hike up prices far over 100% in anticipation of the larger number of travellers. Buses with trailers would allow some to haul a few essential belongings back home.

“As much as we want to sell the things, half of the people won`t buy it and for me to buy other things there, I can`t buy a bed in US dollars when I have rand. It’s next to nothing.

“When I go to Zim, with R50 000, it will not even last me two months because it’s nothing when I give a rand, it’s next to nothing. So that’s also a thing people will consider, how are we going to go home.”

Evans Mahembe, 40, arrived in South Africa in 2010. As a supporter of the opposition party, attacks were rampant.

Mahembe was self-employed. During the drought, he would buy maize and other essential items and resell it in other areas. However, this work was seasonal.

Upon arrival, Mahembe stayed with 4-5 people in a one-bedroom place in Grassy Park, and he has been working in construction, primarily as a plasterer, since then. After two years, his wife and two children, aged 9 and 14, joined him in the country. His wife works as a domestic worker, and children attend schools in South Africa.

“First, at that time in South Africa, it was the World Cup. There was an opportunity to do jobs. Second, the rate was better than the pula so it was an easy option to be here. That time, yes.”

He said leaving would be most challenging for his children who had been educated and lived most of their lives in South Africa.

Mahembe said the number of Zimbabweans leaving for South Africa continues to increase.

“What you must be saying or discussing is what can be done, as in how can the government spread the word (of leaving) to avoid hate speech, xenophobia and the attacks.

“South African people are the ones who own SA, you can`t be fighting for their land. They can just do whatever they want, throw us that way, left right (and) centre but all I`m praying for is that it’s done in a smooth way. Just because when there is a lot of noise, people are going to be hurt.”

Mahembe graduated with a diploma in business management, however, he was not able to use his skills both in Zimbabwe and South Africa. He said many Zimbabweans were highly educated but due to not having the correct documents, would take whatever work they could find.

One of the main reasons why Zimbabweans turn to South Africa is to provide for their families, with the money earned used for food and schooling in Zimbabwe.