The Department of Home Affairs has announced that along with several other changes to services it provides the registration of births will no longer occur at Home Affairs offices.

Instead, births are to be "registered at the health facilities where they occur. These are the 156 health facilities with Home Affairs office presence," Minister Aaron Motsoaledi noted in a statement.

 

Highlighting the alarming number of Covid-19 infections occurring at the department's more than 400 offices across the country, as well as the difficulty in enforcing Covid-19 protocols in large crowds, the Minister said the decision had been "forced by circumstances".

 

The services the minister confirmed as suspended pending further notice include applications for IDs, passports and marriage certificates.

 

For a list of health facilities new parents will be able to consult for birth registration visit: Dha.gov.za

www.samigration.com

 

The DHA has suspended the application for smart IDs, with the exception of matriculants applying for IDs.

A long queue outside the Department of Home Affairs in Port Shepstone on Monday this week. Most in the queue were there to register deaths.

The Department of Home Affairs (DHA) has announced the suspension of several services rendered under level 3 lockdown as the number of death certificates being issued by the department has been on the increase.

To remedy the situation, Home Affairs offices have extended operating hours.

“We will be extending operating hours to 7pm to accommodate those needing to register deaths and births. This will be available from now until February 15,” said Home Affairs Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi.

The minister said since December the department has been issuing a high number of death certificates.

The figures, he cautioned, are set to spiral further by the end of January. He compared the deaths recorded in December 2020 saying that in December 2018, a total of 36 826 deaths were registered and this rose to 38 620 in December of 2019 before figures skyrocketed to 55 676 in December 2020.

“But on January 4 and 5 – just the first working days of this year – Home Affairs had already registered 10 582 deaths. If this trend continues, there’s going to be a greater demand and it will get worse,” he said.

Confronted by the grim reality, the Department has decided to temporarily suspend certain activities and services.

“This is very unfortunate but we are forced by circumstances. We were guided by statistics. Of all the people who visit [our] offices, 29 percent are people collecting smart IDs, 16 percent are applying afresh for smart IDs, 11 percent come to be issued birth, marriage and death certificates while 10 percent come to apply for temporary IDs,” he said.

The DHA has suspended the application for smart IDs, with the exception of matriculants applying for IDs.

Applications for passports (except for those permitted to travel by the Disaster Management Act regulations), marriage registration and solemnisation of marriages are also suspended as is the collection of IDs.

“I know this will be difficult but please bear with us as we save lives. Please don’t come to collect IDs unless you’re specifically invited to do so via SMS. We’ve decided to change the modality in which we operate, we are proposing that all births and deaths be registered at health facilities at which they took place,” he said

www.samigration.com

Often our team is confronted by feedback such as I noticed on social media that people complained on Facebook and  Google , but when you look at our statistics for example on Facebook we have 150,000 likes and on Google 330 reviews with a 94 % approval rate and this tells us that we are doing a very good job and of course there is always room for improvement .

We subscribe to the view our clients are like family and if they give us feedback we take it seriously and we provide them with the platform to do so and when they do we take any feedback seriously and try and remedy the area of concern in order that we can get better at what we do and in that way can give a quality service which is what we strive for . Of course we would be naïve if we think we wont get adverse feedback , because even the best manufactured car or home appliance can break or fail because it is put together by people and we are no different . We all have one thing in common though the desire for excellence and feedback and what is done with it shapes a great company form a mediocre company .

Once again thank you for raising this with us and giving us a platform to put your mind at ease and explain our ethos .

 

 

Kind Regards

Like many businesses in South Africa , Covid 19 has had a devasting effect on how they function in terms of staffing and how many people are allowed inside the office at a time .

With the government advocating 50 % or less staff in the office , we tried that and having the team working remotely but it didn’t work very well as we had to schedule conference calls or zoom / teams / skype calls and we had many connectivity issues either with the clients or our team given network or mobile coverage .

In addition we had a number of satellite offices either 2 or 3 people all over South Africa , like Durban , Johannesburg , Port Elizabeth and Pretoria but with Covid 19 we found that when we catered for 1 staff member  in the office presented a few challenges , either suspected Covid 19 scares with family or friends , or comorbidities like high blood pressure , asthma or diabetes and an appointment with a client , they did not show up or called in sick etc , it played havoc with our brand where people thought we were not serious . You will be aware many government departments open and close leaving much to be desired in terms of rendering services to their clients and here Home Affairs , Civic , Immigration and Refugee affairs are prime examples .

We have learned from this and asked ourselves how could we be operational 100 % of the time , keeping our people safe , allow continuity in our business , ensure clients were served , calls answered , files kept up to date and to this end we came up with the “ silo “ concept very much like future doomsday events depicted in movies and we invested heavily in cloud technology , remote access , secure encrypted calls , allow our staff to be at work 100 % of the time in secure bubbles where they worked in a sterile environment and we slowly shut down our remote satellite offices and brought the team to head office .

 

 

Kind Regards

 

Critical Skills Work Visa

The Critical Skills Visa South Africa is for skilled workers whose occupation is on the Critical Skills Visa List for South Africa. This list reflects the occupations that are in demand in South Africa.

The newly published "Skills or qualifications determined to be critical for the Republic of South Africa in relation to an application for a Critical Skills Visa or Permanent Residence Visa"

This category of work visa may be issued to an applicant who falls within a specific professional category or specific occupational class determined by the Minister by notice in the Government Gazette. This is done after consultation with the Minister of Labour and the Minister of Trade and Industry.

If an applicant falls within one of the professional categories listed on the critical skills list and also has the appropriate post qualification working experience in that profession then such applicant may qualify to apply for this category of work Visa.

The applicant also needs to where applicable register with the relevant South African professional accreditation body regulating that industry as stipulated by Minister of Home Affairs. Such body must also confirm the applicant’s skills, qualifications and working experience.

Furthermore, such applicant’s qualifications need to be evaluated relevant to a South African level. An applicant for a Critical Skills Visa may enter South Africa on such visa without having secured a job offer first. It is, however, required of the applicant to confirm employment with the Department of Home Affairs within a period of one (1) year upon arrival in South Africa, failing which, the Visa would automatically lapse.

The Critical Skills Work Visa is tied to an individual and not to an employer so under this Visa a person can leave from one employer to the next without obtaining a new work Visa.