SA travellers face a long wait for visas – with US appointments only open in 2023

Business Insider SA – 02 August 2022

South Africans looking to travel abroad have been met with visa processing delays.

• These delays are most noticeable for those wanting to visit America, with no appointment slots left in 2022, according to Rennies BCD Travel.
• Would-be travellers may get an "appointment waiver", speeding the process up significantly, if they've had a US visa that expired in the past two years.

Visa processing delays are frustrating South Africans who are looking to travel abroad, with appointments for interviews with the United States (US) consulate only available from February 2023.

"Visa availability continues to be a struggle for travellers," warned corporate and online travel management company Rennies BCD Travel in a notice to clients on Friday.

A massive backlog of visa applications, emanating from the pandemic-induced lockdown, which effectively halted travel and closed embassies, coupled with a resurgence of international movement in the past six months, has led to longer processing times. Like the airports experiencing chaos amid Europe's summer holiday, staffing deficits are also impacting embassies.

Back in January, VFS Global, the world's largest visa outsourcing firm, confirmed longer waiting times and limited appointment slots. The US warned "that it may take several months to schedule an interview appointment", while the UK High Commission in Pretoria, in May, confirmed "longer processing times" and urged travellers to "apply in good time".

Visa appointment and processing times for some European destinations, like Austria, Denmark, Italy, and Spain, range from two weeks to six weeks. Although Germany is taking appointments in August, the total processing time listed by Rennies is up to four weeks, while the earliest date for an appointment with the Dutch embassy in Pretoria is 1 September.

Wait times for an appointment for those wishing to travel to the UK aren't as long – estimated between one and two weeks according to Rennies – but the processing time could take up to two months.

Getting a visa appointment for travel to the US has the longest waiting period of any country listed by Rennies. Appointments in Cape Town are only open in February 2023, while Johannesburg's wait time extends to May 2023.

The long wait for US visa appointments cited by Rennies is confirmed by the US department of consular affairs. Getting an appointment for a visitor visa in Johannesburg is estimated to take 240 days, or eight months, while the waiting period for "all other non-immigrant visas" is marginally shorter, at 210 days.

Getting an appointment for a US visitor visa in Cape Town, according to the department of consular affairs' website, will take 121 days or around four months, which is quicker than Rennies' estimate. Rennies, however, warns of a processing time of up to 12 weeks. Those applying for a student/exchange visitor visa could get an interview within three days, compared to two months for the same in Johannesburg.

There may, however, be some relief for those who've had a US visa in the past.

"If you have had a previous USA visa that expired in the last 48 months, you may qualify for an 'appointment waiver'. This option takes anything from four to 12 weeks to be returned," explained Rennies.

"There is no option for an earlier appointment unless the traveller has a compassionate case or can demonstrate an urgent or compelling need for business travel."

www.samigration.com

All South African land border posts to be opened on August 1 as Covid-19 shutdown ends

IOL – 02 August 2022

Durban - After two years of shutdown of all secondary land border posts of South Africa with neighbouring countries in the SADC region, the Department of Home Affairs has finally decided to open them again.

The 32 land border posts were closed late in March 2020 due to restrictions imposed to contain Covid-19 and the need to limit the movement of people.

During that period, only major border posts like Beit Bridge, which leads to Zimbabwe, Lebombo (Mpumalanga side) and Farazella (KZN side), which leads to Mozambique, Oshoek and Mahamba (Mpumalanga side) and Golela (KZN side, which leads to the Kingdom of eSwatini were opened.

Also opened during that period was Vioolsdrift, which leads to Namibia, the Maseru bridge, which leads to Lesotho and Skilpadshek/Pioneer Gate, which leads to Botswana.

On Friday, through a government notice, the minister of the department of home affairs, Aaron Motsoaledi, announced that all this has changed.

“I, Dr Pakishe Aaron Motsoaledi, the Minister of Home Affairs, hereby, in terms of section 9A of the Immigration Act (Act No.13 of 202) and Regulations 6 and 8 of the Immigration Regulations, 2014, determine the August 1, 2022 as the date on which all closed ports of entry shall be re-opened.

“And any person who wishes to enter into, transit through or depart from the Republic must do so at a port of entry,” reads the notice signed by Motsoaledi on Friday.

Among the secondary border posts that will be re-opened after over two years of no activity is Onverwacht/Nsalitje near the KwaZulu-Natal border town of Pongola. The border post leads to southern eSwatini andis mainly used by South African mining specialists working at Maloma colliery which supplies Eskom with high-quality anthracite coal.

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For Lesotho-South African travellers, the Sani Pass border in the Drakensberg mountains on the side of KwaZulu-Natal will be fully opened again.

Travellers to Mozambique will benefit as the border posts of Pafuri and Giriyondo will be opened once more.

Bray and Makopong, which was among the 13 Botswana - South Africa border posts which were closed, will now be opened for use by travellers.

Alexander Bay, which links South Africa with Namibia will be among those border posts to be opened for the first time since Covid-19 struck.

The spokesperson of the South African Department of Home affairs, Siya Qoza, confirmed the latest developments.

“Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has approved the opening of borders that were closed,” Qoza said

www.samigration.com

ANC ‘green lights’ Motsoaledi’s proposed policy on SA’s immigration system

Motsoaledi has been praised in some quarters for his interventions, which are running ahead of the ANC’s policy formulation.

1 August 2022 – The Citizen

Home Affairs Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi’s mission to have a clear migration policy framework for the country could be realised as the ANC admits it has none since 1994 and is amenable to his proposed migration blue print.

Giving feedback on the national policy conference discussion on migration, ANC peace and security subcommittee chair David Mahlobo indicated the conference agreed to proposals from Motsoaledi that permits and visas system should be overhauled so there was clarity and proper legislation on migration.

Home Affairs would be capacitated to be able to carry out this function.

The conference suggested the establishment of refugee reception centres near the borders with neighbouring countries.

When implement, the new set up would see refugees being treated in terms of the United Nations conventions for the first time since 1994.

“That is a very strong recommendation,” Mahlobo said.

The ANC suggested that SA must withdraw from 1951 convention on refugees that it assented considering the experiences of other countries.

They believe the withdrawal would help SA deal with its refugee crisis without being bound by the agreement.

“South Africa must withdraw but will deposit a new instrument to be able to manage our own issues and pressure it faces,” Mahlobo said.

Without the ANC framework, Motsoaledi had made great progress towards addressing the migration crisis.

His initiatives included appointing internal investigative committee to review all fraudulent permits and visas issued since 2004.

The committee, chaired by former director-general Dr Cassius Lubisi, has former sleuths from the Special Investigating Unit, the Zondo Commission and the Auditor-General.

It also set up the Border Management Authority and recently launched the border guards to patrol the country’s porous borders.

The next would be to establish a multi-departmental migration management board, representing all departments impacted by migration with representatives from unions and civil society.

Motsoaledi has been praised in some quarters for his interventions, which are running ahead of the ANC’s policy formulation.

Motsoaledi and Mahlobo conceded the ANC never had an over-arching framework on migration, something that observers attributed to the migration crisis.

Motsoaledi said even the passed Citizenship Act of 1995, the Refugee Act of 1998, the Immigration Act 13 of 2002 and the newly enacted Border Management Act of 2020 were not based on any framework guidance.

Motsoaledi, who had presented his proposals to the ANC provincial structures in Mpumalanga and Eastern Cape and were discussed by all the party branches, had described chaos caused by lack of clear policy.

He said internal anti-corruption unit headed by a deputy director-general (DDG) he appointed discovered fraud involving illegal issuing of permits and visas by Home Affairs officials.

Twelve of the 14 officials from the section had attempted to petition Motsoaledi for the DDG to stop investigating “our errors”.

“Very week we are arresting people who issue those permits. If they are conceding to issuing permits by error, it means many people were brought to this country erroneously and illegally. It means there is corruption happening,” Motsoaledi said.

He said the worst fraud was where people as young as 16 were issued with retirement permits.

The officials also fraudulently issued permanent residence permit for flamboyant pastor Shepherd Bushiri and his family and the Nigeria preacher Timothy Omotoso, who is on trial for rape and human trafficking.

www.samigration.com

Zimbabwe exemption permit saga: Home Affairs facing fresh lawsuit as another challenger enters fray

News 24 – 1 August 2022

• The Zimbabwean Immigration Federation is taking the Department of Home Affairs to court over the termination of the Zimbabwean Exemption Permit.
• The organisation wants the department to start the review process for permits afresh.
• It says its members will face discrimination and reprisal if they go back to Zimbabwe.

The Department of Home Affairs is facing another lawsuit relating to the looming termination of the Zimbabwean Exemption Permit (ZEP).

The ZEP is a special dispensation permit established more than 10 years ago that gives legal protection to an estimated 178 000 Zimbabwean nationals to live, work and study in South Africa.

However, the Cabinet decided in January that the arrangement must be terminated by December and that applicants should apply for a visa to remain in South Africa, based on a list of critical skills needed in the country.

In June, the Helen Suzman Foundation said it would be taking the government to court for discontinuing the permits. It said termination would turn ZEP holders in South Africa into undocumented migrants and force them to return to Zimbabwe if they did not meet the strict conditions of one of the visa categories on offer. The foundation said they would face similar conditions to what had led them to flee.

Now, another organisation – the Zimbabwean Immigration Federation (ZIF) – is also hauling the department to court.

In its papers, the organisation cited the Department of Home Affairs, President Cyril Ramaphosa, the South African Police Service, the South African National Defence Force, and the Border Management Authority.

The application, filed at the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria, was aimed at interdicting government departments from arresting or deporting ZEP holders once their permits expired at the end of the year.

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The organisation also wanted ZEP holders to be able to leave or enter the country legally if all their other travel documentation was in order.

In the second part of its application, the ZIF wanted home affairs to review the decision not to extend the ZEP. The organisation also wanted the department to restart the review process for permits and, in the meantime, allow ZEP holders to remain in the country.

It contended that the termination of the ZEP would "impose a severe administrative burden on the Department of Home Affairs – who have not made reasonable steps to ensure they will be able to deal with the impending flood of applications by Zimbabwean Exemption Permit holders that will be lodged under the Refugees Act".

The Gukurahundi massacre and apartheid

In its court papers, the organisation further argued that members of the ZIF were victims of the Gukurahundi massacre who had been left homeless.

"They were asylum seekers in South Africa before the DZP [Dispensation of Zimbabweans Project] in 2009 and have since remained in South Africa as holders of permits issued under the subsequent ministerial exemption dispensation."

Cabinet created the DZP in April 2009, which was later renamed the ZEP.

The organisation said they were also worried that members of the LGBTQI community would face discrimination in Zimbabwe.

"Sending asylum seekers and refugees back to Zimbabwe will expose them to persecution in stark violation of South African law and international law," it argued in its court papers.

The ZIF said Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi was allowed to withdraw the permits under the immigration law, provided there was a good cause. However, it said the minister had erred in his decision to end the permits because he "failed to take into account relevant considerations in making the impugned decision".

The ZIF added:

The Minister's approach to the withdrawal of the exemptions that had been granted to Zimbabwean nationals is reminiscent of the brutal international migration policy adopted by the Apartheid regime, which imposed blunt immigration controls and tight restrictions on Africans it considered undesirable, regardless of the severe harm caused to their human dignity and rights.

It argued that the decision to terminate the ZEP would also lead to families being torn apart as most ZIF members didn't qualify for alternative visas under the critical skills category.

"Many Zimbabwean nationals who hold the ministerial exemptions permits have married South African nationals or have children who hold South African identification and travel documents. The minister's decision accordingly threatens to break up families and displace many people if implemented."

Permit holders were also likely to lose their businesses and property, the court papers stated.

Home affairs spokesperson Siya Qoza said the department's lawyers had filed a motion to oppose the ZIF court action.

Qoza said the department was facing four court cases in the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria regarding the ZEP.

www.samigration.com

Zimbabwean Governmnet Taking SA Government To Court For Not Renewing Zim Work Permits

News Hub Creator 28-07-2022

We know that there are many foreigners living in the country but more than often, Zimbabweans are always the ones who are problematic because they think that they know too much about South Africa, and if it were according to them, they would call themselves South Africans as we know that there are those who are already doing that. Those who are already in the country are fighting so hard to ensure that they remain in the country and those who are in Zimbabwe are fighting to come to South Africa. It is just a battle and South Africans are pushing back.

The Zimbabwean government is now fighting the South African government.

The ANC government has disappointed and sold the people of South Africa because it is because of the ANC that we are having all these kinds of issues. They are now all over the place when they see that South Africans are not giving up the fight against illegal immigration.

As if this was not enough, we are now having the Zimbabwean government that is taking the minister of home affairs to court just because he did not renew the Zim Work Permits. They are trying to interdict him from deporting those Zimbabweans when the time has come, and they have not fixed their documents because those permits are expiring very soon.