Immigration Amendment Bill approved

Hi JoachimS!

Thanks for sharing the information.

Have a good day
Armand

Among provisions of the bill were:

    * Established businesses would be encouraged to register with the Department of Home Affairs and would be able to get work permits allocated more quickly than entities not previously known to the government;

    * Visitors in the country on visitor or tourist visas will no longer be allowed to apply to change their status without first going home. This would be to counter marriages of convenience and other fraudulent claims to permanent residence or the right to work in South Africa. This would not apply to people on student or businesses visas;


    * People arriving at borders to apply for political asylum would be given five days and not 14 to get to a refugee centre to apply formally for asylum; and

    * Penalties for repeat offenders against immigrated laws would be strengthened.

Another one is that anyone applying for a permit to work or live in the country would have to present their documents personally and would no longer be allowed to have agents or lawyers submit applications on their behalf.

This last point is also very much in line with other countries. Immigration Agents will still be preparing applications and advising on the immigration legislation, however SUBMISSIONS at the South African embassies will need to be done in person.

Other countries are already requiring this when people apply for (travel) visas.

We expect that soon biometric information will also be required, which will be one more reason why personal submissions will be required.

More information to follow...

Thanx for sharing this info.

My girlfriend was just about to come here on a tourist Visa for us to apply for a Life Partner Visa here.
This aanouncement changes that completely though.

Thanx again!!

Some more questions on the issue though-

1. If it has been approved by Parliament, does this mean it has taken effect yet? If not, when will this law take effect?

2. Do you know whether or not (given the new Bill) we must apply for a life partner Visa at the embassy? Will this be possible if Im currently in South Africa and my girlfriend in her country of residence?

- If we cannot apply for a Life Partner Visa there, what Visa should we apply for so that she can come and stay here for at least two years?

3. Do you perhaps know if you can obtain a work endorcement for the Life Partner Visa later on. The reason I ask is this. If she is abroad and applies for the Life PArtner Visa there and then comes to SA and finds a job...will she have to go back to her country of residence simply to add a work endorcement to the Life Partner Visa?

Sorry for all these questions, but you seem to be quite clued-up on the issue.
Maybe it will help someone else in a similar situation as well.

Hi

The Amendment Law has not taken effect yet, and the problem is that nobody really knows when this will happen. So at the moment foreign nationals can still submit their applications in SA while on a tourist visa, however this can change over night.

I will be posting an update on this forum shortly, which will also answer your questions in detail.

Will it still be possible to renew a temorary resident visa (e. g. retire person permit) from within South Africa?

Hi

Only foreign nationals on tourist visas will not be able to submit their permit applications in South Africa.

Applicants who already hold a permit and a) wish to change to a different permit, or b) wish to apply for a different permit, may apply from within South Africa.

madisonlilac28 wrote:

Hello JoachimS,

Thank you for this information. You did a great job. Where did you find this information? Can you tell me because I want more information about visa and immigration.

Many Thanks,
Madison

Hi Madison

I work for an immigration company, which is why I know these things

Thanks for sharing! Really appreciate it.