Germany Facilitates Entry Rules From Several Third-Countries, Including South Africa

Schengen visa info  - 22 August 2021

The German federal government agency and research institute responsible for disease control and prevention Robert Koch Institute has removed several third countries from the list of virus variant areas, which has prompted the German authorities to facilitate entry restrictions for arrivals from these countries.

At the same time, the institute has announced that from August and on, there will be only two types of risk areas: high-risk areas (previously high-incidence areas) and virus variant areas, while the simple risk area category will no longer exist.

Since Sunday, August 1, 2021, at 12:00 am, Germany has removed nine third countries from the virus variant area category and placed them in the category of the high-risk areas, including here South Africa, which has been in place since the beginning of 2021. These countries are

1. Botswana
2. Eswatini
3. Lesotho
4. Malawi
5. Mozambique
6. Namibia
7. Zambia
8. Zimbabwe
9. South Africa

The change of categories for these countries means that visa holders from these areas will finally be eligible to travel to Germany, including here work and student visa holders.

Last weekend, SchengenVisaInfo.com reported that the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs imposed a requirement of negative COVID-19 test results for travellers who have not been vaccinated yet, and those that haven’t previously been infected with COVID-19, including arrivals from areas in the safe list.

The requirement will also apply to arrivals from the countries listed above, who now are obliged to present proof that they have been vaccinated against COVID-19, they have recently recovered from the virus or proof of negative test results.

“When entering the Federal Republic of Germany after a stay in a foreign high-risk area (previously high-incidence area) or virus variant area, special registration, verification and quarantine obligations must be observed,” the RKI explains.

According to RKI’s most recent update, no new virus variant areas have been detected since the previous update. Currently, in this category remain only Brazil and Uruguay.

At the same time, Andorra has been moved from the category of simple risk areas to the high-risk list. The Dominican Republic, on the other hand, is no longer a risk area.

Germany is among the EU countries with the highest vaccination rates, with 72.9 per cent of its population having received at least the first dose of the vaccine against COVID-19, while 59.1 per cent of them are fully vaccinated, data by European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control reveals.

Yet, according to the World Health Organization, Germany has reported 2,454 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours and 30 deaths, which has brought the number of COVID-19 infections in the country to 3,766,65 since the beginning of the pandemic. The country now counts 91,637 deaths due to the virus.

www.samigration.com

Constitutional Court protects rights of detained immigrants

The Citizen – 18 August 2021

This despite the fact that it will now become very expensive to process the arrests of undocumented migrants.

Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) has welcomed a unanimous Constitutional Court ruling upholding the rights of all detainees – also alleged illegal immigrants – to access our courts.

The Constitutional Court ruled that sections 34(1)(b) and (d) of the Immigration Act were inconsistent with the constitution and therefore invalid and gave parliament 24 months to issue new legislation to correct the defects in the act.

Although the ruling of invalidity was suspended, the court ruled that pending the enactment of amended legislation, any undocumented foreigner detained under section 34 of the act must be brought before court in person within 48 hours from the time of arrest or not later than the first court day thereafter if the 48 hours fall outside ordinary court days.

This also counts for foreigners currently already in detention.

The court ruled that the rights guaranteed in section 12 and 35 of the constitution – the right to challenge in court a detention within 48 hours of arrest and the right to be protected against arbitrary detention without trial – applied to foreign nations as well as South African citizens.

LHR said in a statement the ruling affirmed that all persons living in South Africa were protected by the law and not subject to arbitrary violations of their rights by authorities.

“This ruling will most importantly protect vulnerable individuals whose detention have in the past fallen beyond the reach of judicial oversight, resulting in widespread rights violations,” the rights group said.

LHR thanked Legal Aid South Africa, without whose financial support they would not have been able to wage a successful battle against state injustice, as well as People Against Suffering, Oppression and Poverty (Passop), which intervened in the application as a friend of the court.

LHR took the matter to the Constitutional Court for confirmation after the High Court in Pretoria ruled that the sections of the act were invalid, but Home Affairs appealed the ruling, arguing that the sections were consistent with the constitution and denying that arrested foreigners enjoyed the same protection under the constitution.

The Constitutional Court dismissed the state’s appeal and upheld the LHR’s argument that the legislation illegally authorised administrative detention without trial for purposes of deportation in violation of the constitution.

The organisation had instituted 115 cases against home affairs since 2009 and provided free legal assistance to arrested and detained foreigners who were in some instances detained without trial for periods of up to six months or longer.

Judge Chris Jafta said the LHR’s papers painted an unfortunate picture of widespread disregard for statutory requirements, which led to a violation of the rights of vulnerable people.

These lapses revealed shortcomings enacted by the Immigration Act in a system that was supposedly designed to promote dignity and human rights.

The state argued that it would increase costs as about 500 foreigners would have to appear in court daily countrywide, which would require a massive number of magistrates, but Judge Jafta said the mere increase in costs alone could not justify denying detainees the right to challenge the lawfulness of their detention.

He said an increase in costs would be unavoidable if each foreigner decided to exercise their right to challenge the decision to deport them, but the state should have budgeted for these costs, which are necessitated by the implementation of the act.

The court found that the reasons advanced by the state fell woefully short of justifying the limitation created by the impugned provisions of the act.

Judge Jafta stressed that arrest and detention without trial had been commonly used to suppress opposition to laws and policies of the former apartheid government, with detainees in most cases being beyond the reach of judicial oversight and subjected to torture and other forms of violence.

The constitution included section 12 in the Bill of Rights to outlaw this abuse of power and deprivation of personal freedom by guaranteeing everyone physical freedom and protection against detention without trial, Judge Jafta said.

www.samigration.com

Time to rethink immigration

The Citizen – 15 August 2021

Without a sound immigration policy in place, our economy is at serious risk of a severe skills shortage.

The United Nations estimates that one in every 113 people worldwide are migrants. That’s more than 250 million people who have left their country of birth to seek better opportunities or apply their skills in other countries.

Unfortunately, our immigration policy has not kept up to global standards, with decisions about migration being made on a mechanical application of rules instead of the integrated intelligence-based approach that is best practice globally.

To date, government has seen international immigration as a routine administrative function instead of a process that can bring tremendous benefits to South Africa. The latest Green Paper on International Immigration is designed to overcome these limitations and bring South Africa in line with global best practice.

Key to this is the country’s immediate need to integrate with a highly connected world and to start taking advantage of the influx of talented migrants from other parts of Africa and the world. A recent McKinsey report estimates that the global economy will have 40 million fewer workers with university degrees in 2020 than is required.

Without a sound immigration policy in place, our economy is at serious risk of a severe skills shortage. In South Africa, pressure on the economy is exacerbated by a lack of skilled workers.

South Africa has also been criticised for its lack of competitiveness in terms of attracting skills internationally. Considering the political instability prevalent in many sub-Saharan African countries, including our immediate SADC neighbours, the need for an effective and equitable refugee policy is paramount.

The proposed establishment of a Border Management Authority to balance the facilitation of legitimate trade and travel with security is a welcome development. Integrated border control would help ensure the effective and efficient management of refugees and asylum seekers who have fled their countries of birth.

As a whole, South Africa has not been overly welcoming to refugees and asylum seekers. Of the 70 000 applications for asylum the country receives per year, more than 90% are rejected.

At present, there are fewer than 100 000 legally recognised refugees in South Africa. And in 2015 alone, more than 54 000 people were deported – at high cost to taxpayers.

In addition, asylum seekers are often met with corrupt officials who demand payment for services that should be rendered freely. A recent research report by Lawyers for Human Rights and the African Centre for Migration & Society found that 30% of asylum seekers encountered some form of corruption during the asylum process.

In fact, 13% reported that they were unable to access an office because they were not able to pay the officials demanding payment. The new legislation will potentially address such discrepancies.

. Considering the national economic and strategic importance of South Africa’s immigration policy, it is imperative that citizens play an active role in shaping our country’s approach to international skills migration

www.samigration.com

Stateless man may work and stay in SA

The Citizen – 21 August 2021

Acting Judge MB Mokoena set aside the minister’s refusal to grant an exemption and a permanent residence permit to Frederick Ngubane and gave the minister 90 days to reconsider his application.

The High Court in Pretoria has granted an order to a stateless man, allowing him to work and live in South Africa while the home affairs minister reconsiders his application for permanent residence.

Acting Judge MB Mokoena set aside the minister’s refusal to grant an exemption and a permanent residence permit to Frederick Ngubane and gave the minister 90 days to reconsider his application.

Ngubane, assisted by Lawyers for Human Rights, initially asked the court to declare that stateless ness was a special circumstance for purposes of the Immigration Act.

But Mokoena ruled that it would be premature to make a pronouncement on the issue before it was established by the department if Ngubane was indeed stateless and before the minister decided if statelessness constituted special circumstances for purposes of the Act.

The judge said the minister was the one to decide, after investigations, if Ngubane was stateless or not and if such status constitutes special circumstances.

Ngubane could again approach the court for relief if he was not satisfied with the ultimate decision. Ngubane alleged he was born in Newcastle in South Africa in 1990, but went to live in Kenya with his mother after his father’s death in 1993.

After his mother was murdered in 2002, he went to live in Uganda with a friend of his mother, but in 2009 returned to SA via Tanzania and Mozambique.

He alleged he was allowed to enter South Africa by producing his birth certificate, but he was robbed of the certificate and that home affairs then refused a late birth registration.

The Ugandan and Kenyan governments confirmed that he was not their citizen but the Tanzanian government linked his origin “to some other East African countries”.

www.samigration.com

Home Affairs a byword for corruption, long queues and inefficiency

17 August 2021 – The Citizen

In court papers, , an immigration practitioner since 2007, said that 10 years ago, residence applications were handled in less than six months.

There can be few better, two-word phrases to sum up South African state incompetence and inertia than “home affairs”.

The department is a byword for corruption, long queues and inefficiency.

Now, it emerges, it is also potentially stifling economic growth by slowing down the already long and tedious process for permanent residence permits.

In doing so, it is not only delaying the arrival of badly needed skills possessed by potential immigrants, but is also preventing those immigrants bringing with them millions of US dollars each in potential investments.

According to local immigration practitioners – who are now desperately trying to get the courts to intervene – the shambles at home affairs could be costing the economy between R10 billion and R15 billion a year.

In court papers, Leon Isaacson, an immigration practitioner since 2007, said that 10 years ago, residence applications were handled in less than six months. Now, they take up to six years.

Estimates are that as many as 180 skilled and wealthy people are waiting for their requests to be processed.

Yet, the government continues to dither with border control policy, allowing South Africa to have some of the most porous borders in the world and a tsunami of illegal immigration.

www.samigration.com