The list of countries South Africa considers at high risk for the coronavirus – and from which tourists are banned – dropped from 60 to 22 on Monday. 

• The new red list still includes India, the UK, and the USA.
• Germany and Canada are among the seven countries newly listed.
• Visitors from the remaining high-risk countries will now be welcome as long as they stay for three months or more, the department of home affairs says.

South Africa's red list, of countries from which tourists are not welcome, now stands at 22, down from an initial 60.

But still on the list are several countries that represent important markets for South Africa's tourist offerings.

Countries on the African continent are automatically excluded from the list, and it does not apply to business travellers, or others who are not travelling for leisure, including diplomats and sportspeople.

It will now also no longer apply to longer-term visitors, the department of home affairs (DHA) said in a statement.

The government recognises "that there are a number of regular visitors from mainly European countries that have been accustomed to long periods of visitation to our country during our summer season when it is winter in the Northern Hemisphere," said the DHA.

"Most of them own properties in the country. We appreciate the significant economic contribution that they make through their activities in the country. To this end, we will also allow visitors, in whichever category, who are coming to stay for a three months period or more subject to Covid-19 protocols."

The government has not disclosed exactly how it came up with the initial list, or how it determined the new list.

"The review of the list of high risk countries was done in such a way that it strikes a balance between saving lives and protecting livelihoods," the DHA said. The 

Here is the full list of high-risk countries, from which tourists may not visit South Africa, as of 19 October:

• Argentina
• Bangladesh
• Belgium
• Brazil
• Canada
• Chile
• Colombia
• France
• Germany
• India
• Indonesia
• Iran
• Iraq
• Italy
• Mexico
• The Netherlands
• Peru
• The Philippines
• Russia
• Spain
• The United Kingdom
• The United States of America

Border officials are instructed to turn away tourists from those countries should they reach South Africa.

Seven of those countries did not appear on the initial red list, which means their tourists are effectively newly banned.

The countries from which tourists were previously welcome, but no more, are:

• Bangladesh
• Canada
• Germany
• Indonesia
• Italy
• The Philippines
• Spain

www.samigration.com

Overstaying one’s visa is a common occurrence among people who applied to extend their visa in South Africa and said visa not issued in time for travel. In recent months overstaying one visa has moved from being a minor inconvenience to a possible criminal offence with potentially serious ramifications. The changes brought about by the new immigration laws have made overstaying ones visa a very serious affair which needs a careful and smart approach to remedy. Let us now explore the effect of overstaying ones visa and what steps to take to correct this now serious matter. Effect of an overstay An individual who remains the republic after his or her visa has expired is in violations of the Act. The immigration Act describe such individual as illegal Foreigners. We have a solution

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Major News and hope : We are one of the few organisations getting Emptions & waivers approved !!!!

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The Constitutional Court in November last year handed down a judgement in the Ahmed matter as well as a Court Order opening the door for Asylum Seekers and Refugees to apply to change their status to that of a mainstream Visa under The Immigration Act.
The Department has issued a Directive empowering the VFS offices (representing Home Affairs ) elsewhere to take in any application for a change of status and any waiver that may be required from an Asylum Seeker Temporary Visa or Formal Recognition Permit.
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have to qualify in the applicable category of a mainstream visa under the Immigration Act,
Under the new rules they don’t have to cancel their asylum or refugee status and can change to any visa class if they qualify from within
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Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has extended the national state of disaster by another month.

Government declared a national state of disaster under Section 27(1) and Section 27(2) of the Disaster Management Act on 15 March 2020 – in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

While the state of disaster was originally set to lapse on 15 June, the act provides that it can be extended by the Cogta minister by notice in the gazette for one month at a time before it lapses.

In a directive published on Wednesday (14 October), Dlamini-Zuma said that the extension takes into account the need to continue augmenting the existing legislation and contingency arrangements undertaken by organs of state to address the impact of the Covid-19 disaster.

The state of disaster is now set to lapse on 15 November.

Push-back

The extended national state of disaster has faced increased scrutiny from business groups and political parties who want the prolonged coronavirus lockdown to end.

Earlier this week, the Democratic Alliance (DA) said that the state of disaster undermines democracy, oversight, and policy certainty, and entrenches what it called “bad science”, promoting a climate of fear in the country.

“Extending (the state of disaster) will be no more than a continuation of the government’s attempt to use bad science to promote a climate of fear that gives false legitimacy to the ANC’s growing authoritarianism,” it said.

The party said that under South Africa’s level 1 lockdown rules, harm and damage is still being done to certain sectors of the economy – particularly tourism and the alcohol industry. Lockdown also continues to interrupt education, with no benefits to society, it said.

Shifting power

The state of disaster is what gives power and effect to all current lockdown regulations, which are all being directed under the Disaster Management Act. By terminating the state of disaster, all current regulations – such as curfew and restrictions on gatherings and movement – would also be ended.

However, a late-night submission by the Department of Health on Tuesday (13 October) has made a move to shift some of these powers over to the Health Act, giving the minister similar capacity to implement these restrictions.

These amendments to the Regulations Relating to the Surveillance and the Control of Notifiable Medical Conditions would allow health minister Zweli Mkhize to impose “necessary restrictions, relating to such notifiable medical condition” by the mere publication of a Government Gazette.

Restrictions may include:

• Complete or partial closing of any public place including a place used for public receptions, tourist activities or events or public recreation, amusement or entertainment activities or events;
• Prohibition of movements between districts and provinces of people;
• Prohibitions of the use of ports of entry;
• Imposing curfews for people to remain indoors; and
• Closing of educational institutions.

The DA said that an argument can be made that regulations need to be improved in this area, going the route of handing power over to cabinet with little to no oversight, and giving them freedom to infringe rights on any arbitrary whim they have, is not the way to go.

“During the past seven months we have seen the South African government tighten its grip on citizens more with some irrational and unnecessary limitations of their rights. This was done arbitrarily through a Covid Command Council that was accountable to no one else besides the executive.

“We have seen Parliament sidelined and relegated to a mere spectator all while massive decisions pertaining to the rights of citizens were taken. This was done in aid of our fight against Covid-19 – a legitimate global health disaster,” it said.

“We cannot allow this state of affairs to be normalized as though we do not live in a Constitutional democracy.

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One would think that living in Africa as an expat would be cheaper than living in Europe or America. Not necessarily so.

Intuitively, one would think that living in Africa as an expat would be cheaper than living in Europe or America. Not necessarily so! Calculation of expat pay has many nuances and considerations, part of which is the cost of living differences, as well as the hardship relativities between countries.

Much of Africa has relatively low prices for local goods and services. Just go to the markets in the cities and towns. Local traders offer great bargains, especially for locally grown and produced items. The majority of people live in modest homes, that are relatively cheap in the global housing market. Schools and healthcare is mostly government provided. The cost of living, for local people in Africa, is relatively cheap.

Africa also has some of the poorest and least developed countries in the world. Infrastructure tends to be sparse and poorly maintained. Western luxury goods and services are mostly imported, and only the elite can afford to buy them. For most local people in Africa, the cost of living tends to be relatively low.

Expatriates (expat) are people who voluntarily live outside their own country to take up a job opportunity that requires skills and experience that cannot be resourced locally. They therefore tend to be highly skilled and experienced professionals who are often highly paid in their home country. An expatriate is different to an immigrant in that they intend returning to their home country when the assignment has been completed and do not therefore consider themselves to be local in their host country.

To persuade an expat to take up an international assignment in a country that may be regarded as less attractive than their home country, they need to be offered a better or at the very least a similar, quality of lifestyle, safety and security. This applies to the house they live in, the car they drive, the shops they frequent, the restaurants they dine at and the schools that their children attend. In Africa expatriates pay a premium for “international” brands ideally from their home country, and they tend to make use of premium service providers such as up-market medical practices, international schools, and most prefer to live in exclusive, secure accommodation in order to maintain the quality of life to which they are accustomed back home.

Many of the goods and services required by expatriates must be imported as they are not available locally. The cost of importing and transporting the international standard of goods that expatriates expect to purchase in the cities in this region makes it extremely expensive to maintain the lifestyle that they are used to. For most expatriates in Africa, the cost of living tends to be relatively high.

The cost of living in Africa is both low for local people and high for expatriates. It depends what is measured – local goods and services or imported goods and services – this determines the Cost of Living Index (COLI).

A cost of living comparison involves using a Cost of Living Index (COLI) as a numerical way of comparing the cost of living at an identified standard of living, either over time, or by comparing the cost of living in different geographical locations. When comparing the cost of living between different locations the difference in the cost of living is expressed as an index by dividing the cost of living in Location A by the cost of living in Location B.

The cost of living index indicates the difference in the cost of living between the two locations. In the below graphic, the COLI for the most expensive cities in Africa is the result of dividing each location’s cost of living by the cost of living in New York NY (USA) using 13 basket groups. New York therefore has a COLI of 100 for global comparison purposes.

The graphic illustrates that all African cities’ locals have a lower cost of living than New York locals but that expats in African cities would probably have a higher cost of living as they would import the goods and services they are accustomed to from a first world country. This is why expatriate pay is such a complex subject.  Add to that the consideration of hardship differentials and the uniqueness of every home and host location – certainly not a simple calculation if you are trying to retain these expatriate skills. www.samigration.com”