There is something in Turkey for everyone. The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs introduced the eVisa program in 2013. South Africans can now apply online for a Turkish visa. The Turkish government now provides e-Visas to citizens of over 100 countries, including South Africa. As a result, Turkey is becoming a popular South African tourism destination. South African passport holders are no longer required to visit the Turkish embassy. In exchange, you can apply online and get your e-visa faster. Before traveling, South Africans can apply for a visa online. South African citizens must apply for a Turkey e-Visa to enter Turkey for tourist, business, transit, or medical reasons. The Turkey e-Visa for South Africans is a multiple entry permit valid for stays of up to 30 days. The Turkey e-Visa is valid for a total of 180 days from the date of issue. It allows South African visitors multiple entries into Türkiye, with each journey lasting up to 90 days. This Turkey e-Visa has been launched to allow visitors to easily obtain their visas online. The process is faster and more convenient than applying for a traditional visa. This can be done in minutes from your home or office without having to visit the local Turkish Embassy or Consulate.

DOCUMENTS REQUIRED FOR CITIZENS OF SOUTH AFRICA

• Passport, getting a South African passport is quite easy these days, so you should be able to get one fast. Make sure that it is valid for at least 6 months from the date you plan to enter this country.

• Email address, your Turkey e-Visa will be linked to your passport electronically, but you still need a copy to show at the immigration office in Turkey. Make sure that you provide a valid address.

• Means of payment, You can use a credit or a debit card to pay for the eVisa fees.

Turkey Visa for Omani Citizens

Turkey is a popular tourism destination for Omani people, particularly now that the visa application procedure has been computerized. You should consider obtaining a visa before traveling to Turkey. The Turkish government offers electronic visas to inhabitants of over 100 countries, including Omani people. The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs introduced the eVisa program in 2013. With the e-Visa, travelers from Oman can stay in Turkey for up to 90 days for business or tourism. For travel to Turkey from Oman for longer than 90 days or for any reason other than business or tourism, an embassy visa is required. Applying for a Turkey visa online is the most efficient and simplest way for Oman citizens to obtain the necessary entry authorisation. Turkey e-Visa applicants do not need to visit an embassy or consulate at any point, the process is 100% electronic.

Documents Required for Omani Citizens

• A valid passport from Oman must be valid for at least 150 days

• You can use a credit or debit card or PayPal account to pay for the Turkey Visa Online.

• A valid Email address for the eVisa approval message and to receive the Turkey eVisa in their Inbox.

Turkey Visa for Kuwaiti Citizens

Turkey is a transcontinental country with east and west boundaries. This country is also one of the most popular tourist destinations in the globe. It is on the bucket list of many expats in the Middle East, particularly in the Gulf States. The old `sticky visa` has been supplanted by an electronic visa. Kuwaitis are now more easily able to apply for Turkish visas than ever before. It invites visitors from more than a hundred countries, including Kuwait. In order to enhance international tourism and business travels, the Turkish government introduced the Turkey e-Visa in 2013. To enter Turkey for tourist, business, transit, or medical purposes, Kuwaiti citizens must apply for a Turkey e-Visa. Kuwaiti people can obtain a visa for Turkey quickly and easily thanks to Turkey`s Electronic Visa (e-Visa) system. The Turkey e-Visa is valid for 6 months and allows Kuwaiti travelers multiple entry with a maximum stay of 90 days per visit. The electronic visa allows them to enter through air, land, or sea. Kuwaitis should ensure they have a passport that is valid for at least 60 days after their stay in Turkey. The application process is a simple questionnaire that can be filled out online. Travelers from Kuwait do not need to arrange a visit to an embassy or consulate.

Required Documents for Turkey Visa for Kuwaiti Citizens

• A valid Passport with a validity of 60 days or more after the trip.

• You can use a credit or debit card or PayPal account to pay for the Turkey Visa Online.

• You need to provide a valid email address, to receive the Turkey eVisa in their inbox.

• Travel tickets to Turkey

Turkey Visa for Saudi Citizens

Saudi Arabia may be able to process the Turkish e-Visa, which allows Saudis to stay in Turkey for up to three months for business or pleasure. The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs started the Turkey e-Visa program in 2013. Before crossing the border into Turkey, Saudi Arabs must first obtain a Turkish visa. The Saudi e-Visa Application is now available online. Citizens of over 100 countries, including Saudi Arabia, can obtain electronic visas through the Turkish government. Traditional `stamp` or `sticker` visas will be phased out in favor of the new e-Visa. Saudi citizens must apply for a Turkey e-Visa to enter Turkey for tourist, business, transit, or medical reasons. A Turkey e-Visa allows citizens of Saudi Arabia to visit Turkey for up to 90 days. It is a multiple entry permit valid for 180 days. If you come to Turkey for other purposes or stay in this country for more than 90 days, you need to apply for a visa at the Turkish Embassy in Saudi Arabia. Applying for an e-Visa takes only a few minutes. The visa application can be made from the applicant`s home or office. The Turkey eVisa application is 100% online without the need to visit the Turkish Embassy in Saudi Arabia.

Visa Requirements for Citizens of Saudi Arabia

• A valid passport = your passport should have a minimum validity of 6 months after departing from Turkey.

• Email address to receive the necessary travel documentation.

• Payment methods = You can use a credit/debit card or a PayPal account.

TURKEY VISA FOR US CITIZENS

Turkey is a popular tourist destination for Americans. To experience Turkey`s rich culture, delectable cuisine, and breathtaking historical architecture. This modern and user-friendly technique makes applying for a Turkey visa online from the United States uncomplicated. The US is on the list of countries whose inhabitants are eligible for an online Turkey e-Visa, which means that US citizens can visit this lovely and ancient country quickly. The Turkish e-Visa is intended to replace the current `sticker visa` and speed up visa applications. There are three ways to get a Turkey visa from the US: online (recommended), on arrival, or at an embassy. It is valid for one or more visits to Turkey. Even short-term journeys to Turkey require a visa, according to Turkish visa requirements. The requirements for a Turkey e-Visa for US citizens are simple. The Turkey e-Visa, introduced in 2013, is a single or multiple entry visa that permits for a stay of 30 or 90 days depending on the passport holder`s nationality. It is also suitable for travel in Turkey. e-Visa Turkey allows US citizens to visit Turkey for up to 90 days. The e-Visa is valid for 180 days after it is issued. For stays of more than three months in Turkey, an embassy visa is necessary. The eVisa system is recommended for US citizens because it is the quickest and most convenient way to apply for a visa. Applying for a Turkish visa for US citizens no longer means going in person to a national embassy or consulate or getting a visa upon arrival at the border. Instead, the application is completely online. Americans fill out the form on their smartphone or computer and receive the approved Turkish e-Visa by email.

TURKEY VISA REQUIREMENTS FOR US CITIZENS

• A valid passport with an expiration date of at least 6 months from the date you intend to enter Turkey.

• A complete passport scan.

• A valid email address where notifications and the e-Visa will be sent.

• You can use a Credit/Debit card for paying the visa fees

A court has said that children born in South Africa to foreign national parents are not automatically entitled to South African citizenship. 

Pretoria - A court has found that children born in South Africa to foreign national parents do not automatically entitle them to South African citizenship.

The court then turned down an application by Zimbabwean parents for their children to be issued with SA birth certificates.

The parents had turned to the Polokwane High Court to review and set aside a decision by the department of home affairs, which refused to issue the three children with birth certificates.

The argument by the parents was that the department’s refusal was unlawful, unconstitutional and invalid.

The parents are Zimbabwean citizens currently staying in South Africa. They have three children who were born between 2010 and 2016.

All their children were given unabridged certificates for non-Citizens. The father said he was in South Africa on a work permit and the children’s mother was his partner.

The parents had approached the department to apply for a South African birth certificate for each of the children. Their application was prompted by the fact the children were all born in South Africa and didn’t have Zimbabwean citizenship or nationality.

They were told the only assistance they could get from the department was to be issued with unabridged birth certificates for non-South African citizens for their children in order for them to go to Zimbabwe so that the authorities there could issue them with Zimbabwean birth certificates.

The father said since he worked in South Africa and the children were born here, they were entitled to South African citizenship.

The parents claimed to be holders of work and visitor’s permits and all their children were born in south Africa while they as parents held such permits.

The department said it was difficult to issue a South African birth certificate for citizenship where grounds for citizens has not been established, as in this case, in terms of either birth or naturalisation.

Children born of permanent residents follow their parent’s status, the department said, adding the applicants were from Zimbabwe and had not renounced their citizenship.

Dual citizenship is prohibited in law and as such the applicant’s children are Zimbabwean citizens.

The department also said citizenship could not be conferred on children of permit holders for work approved for that purposes, or for study or holiday purposes.

Its stance is that the notification of birth can be taken to the parents’ country of origin, which is Zimbabwe, for registration and issuing of passports.

The court was told that despite the special permit dispensation extended to Zimbabwean nationals over some time, some parents had failed to regularise their stay and thus disadvantage their children.

The parents in this case failed to safeguard their children’s identity and nationality because they might be in the country illegally for the possibility of expired permits.

Not every person is in South Africa with an intention of staying, the department argued.

It further held the parents had failed to elevate their status to that of residence and, as a result, it was doubtful that having arrived in the early 2000s, they remained permit holders.

The department asked the court to note the Constitutional Court’s findings earlier that citizenship was not just a legal status, but it went to the core of a person’s identity and their sense of belonging.

The court said the basic principle of South African citizenship was that a child followed the citizenship or nationality of his or her parents.

If one parent was a South African citizen, the child would be a citizen by birth.

The court turned down the application and said it’s best to register the children in Zimbabwe.

Johannesburg - President Cyril Ramaphosa has vowed to act decisively and tighten immigration laws and policies.

Ramaphosa, in his weekly newsletter, reflected on last Thursday’s tragedy at Usindiso Shelter, where 77 people died when a fire broke out in the early hours of Thursday morning.

On Monday, the president, who has jetted off to Zimbabwe for the inauguration of president-elect Emmerson Mnangagwa, said it has become his priority to deal with regulating illegal immigration as this encourages exploitation of the vulnerable foreigners in the country.

“Dealing decisively with illegal immigration is a priority because regularising the immigration status of all those who have the legal right to be in our country helps to protect them from exploitation.

“There are complaints about employers who flout the law and hire illegal immigrants so they can pay them less. There are also corrupt individuals in the state working with criminal syndicates to get fraudulent documents for those desperate to remain in the country,” he said.

Ramaphosa added that last week’s tragedy, the second such in one week, even though the first one was not as severe and widely reported on, was one tragedy too many.

“Last Thursday, the 31st of August, we woke to the news that a building in downtown Johannesburg was on fire, with many of its inhabitants still trapped inside.

“At such a time, we embrace our common humanity. It does not matter what the nationalities of the inhabitants are. It does not matter if they were or were not documented. What matters is that, as a people of empathy and compassion, we rally around the survivors who have lost everything and who are struggling to come to terms with what has happened to them,” Ramaphosa added.

Ramaphosa said there needs to be serious questions asked about how some 200 people were able to occupy a building that was not built for housing, was unsafe, and had no basic services.

“Serious questions must be asked about why by-laws are not being enforced across vast swathes of certain cities, resulting in them becoming run-down. These areas are attracting crime, further compounding the problem.

“Serious questions must be asked about how the laws and regulations designed to protect tenants from arbitrary eviction have been used by unscrupulous and criminal ‘slumlords’ to prey on society’s most vulnerable,” he said.

When it comes to housing, Ramaphosa said the country needs to resolve backlogs in the provision of housing in towns and cities across the country as more and more people enter urban centres.

“This tragedy has brought to the fore the need to resolve the challenge of housing in our cities. The demand for housing continues to grow. The movement of large numbers of people into our major centres is fuelling the growth of informal settlements and placing further strain on infrastructure and services.

“Municipal authorities across the country dealing with inner-city decay need to redouble their efforts to revitalise these areas, use regulatory and legislative provisions to safeguard human life, and hold landlords whose premises have become headquarters of criminal activity accountable.

“We need clean, safe, liveable, and vibrant inner cities that attract people to live, work or study. We want our inner cities to attract businesses and investment. We cannot allow certain parts of our cities to suffer chronic neglect and become ‘no-go areas’ because of rampant criminal activities,” he said.

Johannesburg, The Helen Suzman Foundation (HSF) has launched an urgent application against Home Affairs Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi and his department in the High Court to stop the “mass deportation” of illegal immigrants in the country.

The move follows the stance pronounced last month by Motsoaledi that officials would be conducting extensive law-enforcement operations to deport individuals living in the country without proper documentation.

In a message on the department’s official social media account early last month, Motsoaledi asserted his firm position on illegal immigrants as he tweeted: “We don’t make noise when we conduct law enforcement operations. We move in and deport people.

We’ll be going to many other communities and deporting those who are here illegally,” the message read.

The announcement comes less than three months after a full Bench of the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, ruled on June 28 that the decision to terminate the Zimbabwean Exemption Permit (ZEP) was invalid, unlawful and unconstitutional.

The application heard in April was brought by the HSF and the Consortium for Refugees and Migrants in South Africa, challenging Motsoaledi’s December 2021 decision not to renew the ZEP.

The decision not to renew the ZEP meant that permit holders who did not apply for an exemption or were not granted an exemption would have to return to Zimbabwe after calling South Africa home for more than a decade.

In the recent court application sought for September 18, the foundation, along with the Consortium for Refugees and Migrants in South Africa, are pleading for an “interim enforcement” order from the High Court to curb the latest attempts to deport illegal immigrants.

In spite of the organisations’ attempts to halt the mass deportation of illegal immigrants, their recent court challenge has been criticised by some members of the public, especially following the fire at a hijacked building in Joburg that saw 77 people die and the negative impact of illegal zama zama operations.

“Nicole Fritz cannot win every case, using the money allocated to her as an NPO. HomeAffairsSA now has solid proof regarding the negative effects of illegal immigration. They must use the #JHBFire and #zamazama humanitarian catastrophes as reliable points of comparison. Moreover, why does the state use our tax money to support the Helen Suzman Foundation? These NPOs ought to be permanently outlawed,” wrote user Lolo Taunyane.

“Has Ms Fritz or any office-bearer of the foundation offered to personally support or take in any illegal immigrants into their personal homes and estates? I’ll park here and wait,” added user Brett Ben Raphael.

Meanwhile, in what appears to be a human trafficking syndicate operating in Ekurhuleni, Motsoaledi, confirmed on Friday that the department had intercepted a home in Primrose where more than 100 undocumented immigrants were found.

These immigrants were subsequently arrested. It is reported that many of them were Ethiopians, while four were Malawians.

The minister said only four of these people had any form of documentation on them and the owner of the property was also detained at the Primrose police station.

The arrest was part of the department’s crackdown on illegal foreigners conducted with other spheres of government, including the SAPS.