Chronicle Editor
Thupeyo Muleya, Beitbridge Bureau
SOUTH Africa’s new Minister of Home Affairs, Dr Leon Schreiber, has extended the temporary concession for foreign nationals who are awaiting the outcome of their visa, waiver and appeal applications.
Among other nationals, Zimbabweans studying and working legally in the neighbouring country are set to benefit from the extension.
There are nearly 200 000 Zimbabweans living and working south of the Limpopo under the Zimbabwe Exemption Permits (ZEP) some of whose applications for renewal are yet to be finalised.
In a statement, the Department of Home Affairs said the latest extension safeguards applicants, including those who are contributing to South Africa through their scarce skills, from suffering adverse consequences or being erroneously declared undesirable while they await the outcome of applications submitted to the department.
The temporary concession applies only to foreign nationals who have been legally admitted into South Africa and is also only applicable to applicants who have submitted their applications via VFS Global and who can produce a verifiable receipt for such application against the VFS Global tracking system.
“The processing of some of these applications has been delayed as the department works on reducing backlogs,” said the Department of Home Affairs in the statement.
“While the department has made progress in this regard since its previous communication on the matter, there is still a backlog in various visa and permit categories and Minister Schreiber has now moved to protect applicants while the backlog is reduced.
“The decision to avert adverse consequences for applicants who seek to obtain lawful visas in order to contribute to South Africa, either through their skills or as tourists, signals the minister’s commitment to improving the visa system to make South Africa a more attractive destination for international investment, tourism and job creation.”
The department said the decision to extend the temporary concession serves as a signal of intent to reinvigorate the Department of Home Affairs and position it as a vital economic enabler.
In order to build confidence in this new approach, it said the minister was committed to avoiding a repeat of the situation that has seen the previous concession expire prior to the extension being announced.
“The following temporary measures will apply with immediate effect and applicants whose waiver application outcomes are still pending, visa holders who have applied for a waiver and the waiver application is still pending as at 30 June 2024, are granted a further temporary extension until 31 December 2024 to enable the department to process the applications, for applicants to collect their outcomes, and to submit applications for appropriate visas,” said the Department.
“Those who wish to abandon their waiver applications and depart from South Africa, will be allowed to exit at a port of entry before or on 31 December 2024 without being declared undesirable in terms of Section 30(1)(h) of the Immigration Act, 2002 read with regulation 27(3) of the Immigration Regulations, 2014.
“Visa holders who need to travel, but are awaiting the outcome of a waiver application, will be allowed to exit and re-enter at a port of entry up to and including 31 December 2024, without being declared undesirable in terms of section 30(1)(h) of the Immigration Act, 2002 read with regulation 27(3) of the Immigration Regulations, 2014,” said the department.
“However, non-visa exempt applicants who travel out of the country with a waiver application receipt are required to apply for a port of entry visa, which would allow them re-entry into South Africa.”
Under the new order visa holders who have applied for long-term visas (Visitor’s Visas in terms of Section 11(1)(b) and 11(6) of the Immigration Act, 2002; Business Visas, Study Visas, Relative’s Visas and Work Visas) and whose application is still pending as at 30 June 2024, were also granted a further temporary extension until 31 December 2024 of their current visa status.
However, the applicants are not allowed to engage in any activity other than what the visa conditions provide for.
In the case of those who wish to abandon their visa applications they will be allowed to exit at a port of entry before or on December 31, 2024 without being declared undesirable.
“Non-visa exempt applicants who travel out of the country with a long-term visa application receipt, are required to apply for a port of entry visa, which would allow them re-entry into South Africa.
“Visa appeal applicants who need to travel, but are awaiting the outcome of an appeal application for a long-term visa, will be allowed to exit and re-enter at a port of entry up to and including 31 December 2024, without being declared undesirable,” said the department.
All appeal applicants are required to produce a copy of the rejection letter with a receipt for the appeal application on departure and re-entry into South Africa.
Meanwhile, non-visa exempt appeal applicants who travel out of the country with an appeal application receipt, are required to apply for a port of entry visa, which would allow them re-entry into South Africa.
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