On 17 June 2020, the Scalabrini Centre of Cape Town, represented by Norton Rose Fulbright South  Africa Inc, will be heard in the Western Cape High Court regarding certain sections of South Africa’s recently-changed, controversial refugee laws. Sections of the refugee law now mean that asylum-seekers who’s documentation expires for thirty days or more face arrest and deportation, as their claims would be considered ‘abandoned’. These people – who have sought refuge and safety in South Africa – could be deported to danger or death in their countries of origin for no reason other than they were a month late in renewing a visa.

Our case seeks to declare pertinent sections of South Africa’s recently changed refugee law to be set aside and declared unconstitutional.

Abandonment of asylum claims

In January 2020, we expressed deep concern over the Refugee Amendment Act, which came into force on 1 January 2020. This Act came into force upon the signing and Gazetting of the Refugee Regulations. Several aspects of the new law undermine asylum seekers’ and refugees’ rights.

Of particular and urgent concern are the so-called ‘abandonment clauses’. We are challenging the constitutionality of Sections 22(12) and (13) of the Refugee Amendment Act and Regulation 9 of the Refugee Regulations. These sections of the Refugee Amendment Act and Regulations effectively mean that the claim of an asylum-seeker in South Africa ‘must’ be considered ‘abandoned’ if their asylum seeking visa expires for 30 days or more.

If there are no ‘compelling reasons’ around why an asylum seeker holds and expired permit, these persons would be treated as ‘illegal foreigners’ and risk facing arrest and deportation. The Refugee Amendment Act also prevents that person from re-applying for asylum in South Africa – which seems to run against international refugee law.

The difficulties of ensuring a valid asylum seeker visa

In the daily work of The Scalabrini Centre of Cape Town, we consult with many asylum-seekers who, despite their best efforts to extend their asylum seeker visas, are simply unable to do so.

Remaining on a valid asylum seeker visa is no easy feat: Many asylum seekers face long journeys to Refugee Reception Offices (RRO) to apply for an extension of their permit. Depending on their nationality, they may only approach a RRO on certain days. Should they manage to arrive on the right day, under-staffed Refugee Reception Offices result in long snaking queues. Not everyone is attended to. Asylum seeker visas are extended for anything between a month and six months, meaning the process described above must be undertaken on a regular basis.

The Department of Home Affairs has itself confirmed that the asylum process is subject to colossal administrative delays: the process of considering an asylum application takes, on average, more than 5 years.

Provisions run counter to South African constitution and international law

The ‘abandonment’ provisions of the Refugee Amendment Act run counter to the fundamental legal and constitutional basis of refugee law, namely the right of non-refoulement. This is a fundamental of international and national refugee law that prevents states from forcibly returning a person to a country or place where they would face reasonable risk of harm or death.

The provisions allow for a person with a valid asylum claim to be returned to their country of origin to face persecution merely because they have failed to meet a procedural requirement.

The consequences of this system in South Africa will be devastating. Thousands of people from across the continent, and the world, would be barred from asylum for no reason other than they were a month late in renewing a visa.

Our demand

Our case requests that these Sections 22(12) and (13) of the Refugee Amendment Act and Regulation 9 of the Refugee Regulations are declared unconstitutional and invalid, and that they are set aside.

www.samigration.com

President Cyril Ramaphosa has indicated the **National Coronavirus  Command  Council will consider submissions on the relaxing of Covid-19 restrictions.

 He says he is planning to address the nation in the next week.

 The president says the government has received submissions from the  religious section, the tourism sector, sports fraternity and entertainers.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has given the strongest indication yet there will be a further relaxing of Covid-19 restrictions.

He confirmed the National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC) had received submissions from the religious section, the tourism sector, the sports fraternity and entertainers.

In an engagement with the South African National Editors' Forum (Sanef) on Wednesday night, Ramaphosa said the country should "watch the space" in the coming week.

"As the National Coronavirus Command Council, we are having to evaluate a number of proposals that have been put to us by a number of sectors of society. Religious leaders have come to us and asked that we consider extending the number of people who should be in worship. It should no longer be based on 50 people in a room only it should be based on 50% of the room."

He said they would give consideration to all the proposals before the government and do an evaluation of the rate of Covid-19 infections.

"This is where we will get advice from the Ministerial Advisory Committee as well as from Natjoints which is the real engine of monitoring our coronavirus approach. We will give consideration to all that," Ramaphosa added.

The country was placed on alert Level 2 of the nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of Covid-19 on August 18, which lifted most restrictions to the economy.

International borders remain closed and large gatherings of more than 50 people are still prohibited.

While the country has seen a steady decline in Covid-19 infections there are concerns about the accuracy of its recorded death toll.

Ramaphosa said the government had not taken advice on wrong data.

"Yes, it is possible that records of people who have died from Covid-19-related diseases could be a lot more but we have dealt with those numbers. There's always a margin of error. But the data in my view has been spot on," he said.

Ramaphosa added the vaccine developed in response to the coronavirus should not be hogged by more developed countries.

"The vaccine that would be developed should not be nationalised … by your rich countries who have the capabilities and the fire power. Of course, there is a cost attached to it but it should not be an excessive price attached to it."

*Economic recovery*

He said South Africa had entered the pandemic on a "weak wicket" with an economy already in the red 

Ramaphosa pledged an economic recovery plan to deal with the devastation brought on by the pandemic was on its way.

He said the timeline was "soonest", within two to three weeks. "Government to a large degree has run out of money and we will have to cobble money together but fortunately some aspects of this recovery plan will be funded through a variety of methods. Private sector will play a key role, government will play a key role and we will all need to put shoulder to wheel.

"I have said this to the social partners who wanted a little bit of extension that we need to move forward so that we are able to put the plan to the nation." 

When asked about possible changes to his executive, Ramaphosa skirted around the issue.

"You want to know if there will be changes in Cabinet … I don't know.

Would you like to see changes?"

www.samigration.com

This typ e of South Africa Spouse or life partner permit is available to people in either heterosexual or same-sex relationships and can be applied for as either a spouse temporary residence permit or a permanent residence permit depending on the length of the marriage or relationship in question.

Foreigners who are spouses of South African citizensor permanent resident holders may apply for permanent residence. To obtain permanent residence, you would have to have been with your partner for more than 5 years.

Being one of the most progressive countries in the world in recognizing same-sex couples and affording them equal rights to that of heterosexual unions South Africa grants spousal permits to life partners in both same-sex and heterosexual relationships.

• The spousal permit is classified under the relative’s visa category and is renewable.
• The spousal visa is issued for a period of 36 months at a time. An added factor is the expiry date of the passport , ie the visa cannot be longer than expiry date of passport.
• It is a temporary residency visa and is only issued to foreign nationals who can prove a committed relationship with a South African citizen or person holding permanent residency.
• The couple must be abl e to prove a relationship longer than two years

If you would like to study or work while in the Republic you may do so but you would have to apply for working rights to be added to your visa. Persons on a spousal permit may also only apply to have either study, or business or working rights added to their visa, but not all three. This means that if you added a working rights endorsement to your visa you may only work for an employer.

SAPeople has collaborated with the Democratic Alliance (DA) to petition South Africa’s Home Affairs Minister to resolve the passport renewal crisis that is currently brewing abroad.

SAPeople is inundated daily with cries for help from South Africans abroad who are unable to contact their own Embassies, and whose passports are expiring – putting their jobs, their health care and their ability to remain overseas with their families in jeopardy.

SAPeople Editor Jenni Baxter said: “We have tried contacting the official channels for urgent help on behalf of these desperate South Africans, but have largely been met with curt replies or silence, despite even offering to assist. As the matter is urgent, we have collaborated with the DA who will be able to use this petition to raise the issue in Parliament and hopefully resolve this situation as soon as possible for South African citizens abroad. We call on all those affected, as well as their families and friends to please sign the petition, so that we can move this frustrating situation forward for them.”

A residency permit crisis looms for South Africans living abroad as some have started to get orders to leave due to expired passports.

South Africans living, working and studying abroad wait six to twelve months for their passport renewals. In stark comparison, India recently announced a two day to two week turnaround time for their nationals renewing passports abroad!

The Covid-19 pandemic has only worsened an already unacceptable situation with South African embassies closed and South Africans citizens stranded, said DA MP Adrian Roos and DA Abroad Leader Dr Rory Jubber in a joint statement on Tuesday.

Many embassies that are now open have four to six week waiting lists just to apply for a passport renewal.

Section 21(4) of the Constitution grants every citizen the right to a passport and for those South Africans living abroad the expiry of their passport means their visa expires and they are subject to daily fines and deportation.

It is an untenable situation and the DA wrote to the Minister of Home Affairs, Aaron Motsoaledi, to request that his department finds some mechanism to grant South Africans an emergency validity extension to their passports.

“From media statements by the Minister, it is clear he does not understand the problems that South Africans living abroad are confronted with when they are unable to renew their documents in a timely manner. South Africans living abroad do not only need their passports to return to South Africa.

“They need their South African passports and other documents to be able to function legally in their countries of residence; to work, to remain as legal residents and to access vital services like healthcare and education,” said the statement.

Therefore, to assist South Africans abroad, the DA and SAPeople will petition the Minister of Home Affairs to:

• Ensure South Africans living, working and studying abroad who are facing long waits for their renewed passports have an emergency extension to their passport that covers the 6-12 month average wait.
• Co-ordinate with the Department of International Relations and Cooperation to ensure all facilities where applications are made abroad are fully open for business and are Covid-19 safety compliant.
• Put in place measures to reduce the turnaround time for passport applications from abroad including electronic applications at larger missions and the option to courier applications.

SAPeople receives a deluge of desperate emails daily, and can no longer stand back and just report on this matter. We hope that by collaborating with the DA – who also do not want to stand idly by while South African citizens are in need – that this petition will ensure this matter reaches the highest offices, and can soon be resolved.

www.samigration.com

Life Partner visa is issued to someone in a long term relationship.

This type of South Africa life partner visa is available to people in either heterosexual or same-sex relationships and can apply for a life partner temporary residence visa or a permanent residence depending on the length of the relationship in question.

An application for temporary residence life partner visa requires that the partners are in a proven relationship for 2 years. Foreigners who are life partners of South African citizens or permanent resident holders may apply for permanent residence if they have been together for 5 years or more in terms the Immigration Act.

To obtain permanent residence, you would have to have been living with your partner for more than 5 years. This came about with the new regulations.

The life partner visa is very similar to the spousal visa but accommodates same sex partnerships. You will have to prove financial and emotional support and may be called upon to be interviewed by the department.

SA Migration Intl will guide you through the entire process and make sure that your application is fully compliant with the immigration law to ensure a successful outcome. Once your application has been submitted we ensure you will be able to track the progress of said application either directly via VFS or via our followup processes via our application tracking system and be kept fully up to date with the progress of your application.

Once we confirm that you will qualify for the visa we will ensure you have a successful application.

www.samigration.com