Home Affairs - Urgent Update

NEW IMMIGRATION BILL

As you may have heard, the South African Department of Home Affairs (DHA) is currently reviewing a new Immigration Bill. This new piece of legislation will affect every foreign nationals wanting to emigrate to South Africa.

The minister of Home Affairs has made it very clear of her desire for ALL applications to be submitted in the applicants home country (as opposed to allowing submissions to also happen in South Africa).

The rational behind this is to prevent those coming to South Africa on a visitors visa "falling in love” with the country and then applying for a temporary longer stay permit. It also reduces the work load and consequent backlog of applications the Department of Home Affairs has been facing for years now. Lastly (for the purpose of this announcement) it also serves as a security measure, as the various embassies can directly contact the police authorities in the respective countries and conduct a security check for selected applicants, where the embassy deems it necessary.

Whilst there is no guarantee this will become law, there is every chance it will. There has not been confirmation from Home Affairs when these changes will be implemented, but from experience, announcements from Home Affairs are very often at extremely short notice, hence our pre-emptive announcement.

HOW COULD THIS AFFECT YOU?

For those in South Africa who have yet to submit their permit application for temporary residency

If you are currently in South Africa and have yet to make your permit submission it is absolutely vital the application is concluded and submitted as soon as possible. A failure to do so could result in you having to fly back to your country of origin and submit your application there in person.

For those outside of South Africa yet to make their permit application

If you are based abroad and not yet submitted your application to the DHA we would advice that your application is submitted in your country of origin via the South African embassies and consulates. We have experienced some excellent results in terms of time frames and efficiency in
doing this and are experienced in terms of the processes required.

Summary

Every Department of Home Affairs throughout the world has the right to review its regulations and processes (as evidenced by the UK, Canada, Australia and USA in recent weeks). In this regard South Africa is no different – however many of these countries provide a courtesy period
before actioning them. South African DHA has a track record of not doing so and effecting implementation immediately.