{"id":818886,"date":"2025-03-31T12:24:06","date_gmt":"2025-03-31T10:24:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=818886"},"modified":"2025-03-31T12:24:13","modified_gmt":"2025-03-31T10:24:13","slug":"home-affairs-boost-for-foreigners-has-a-catch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/818886\/home-affairs-boost-for-foreigners-has-a-catch\/","title":{"rendered":"Home Affairs boost for foreigners has a catch"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Industry experts have welcomed the Department of Home Affairs’ extension of the reprieve offered to foreigners in South Africa and praised the department for eradicating 94% of the 300,000 visa backlog.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, this comes with the warning that the expedited process may have inadvertently led to higher rejection rates and appeals\u2014creating a detrimental feedback loop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Minister of Home Affairs, Leon Schreiber, recently announced a timely reprieve for foreign nationals with pending visa, waiver and appeal applications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The extension will allow foreigners to travel and remain in the country under specific conditions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The extension was set to expire today, 31 March 2025, but has now been extended to 30 September 2025<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This will allow these foreigners to remain in South Africa to travel and remain in the country under specific conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Schreiber said that many of the applications’ outcomes will not be ready for collection before the deadline of 31 March 2025, mainly due to delays in the printing process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the processing of appeal applications will also not be completed by the expiry of the current concession<\/strong>, and this is now where the department is focusing its efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jaco Brits, head of immigration at\u00a0Xpatweb, welcomed the minister’s extension.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The minister has already extended the concession on two separate occasions due to the challenges in processing applications at the department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The key condition of the extended concessions is that applicants who are waiting for the outcome of their applications can remain in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The affected parties are also allowed to depart and re-enter South Africa up to and including 30 September under specific conditions without being declared as an undesirable person. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Brits stressed that applicants from non-visa-exempt countries who\u00a0travel out of the country with a VFS application receipt must apply for a Visitor’s\u00a0Visa, allowing them to re-enter the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A welcome boost<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

The concession extension will protect valid visa holders regarding their lawful stay in South Africa, allowing them to continue their activities per their current visa conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brits commended the Department of Home Affairs for eradicating nearly 94% of the visa backlog in the last half a year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, expediting the process may have created more challenges with a rise in the rejection of applications and, consequently, appeals.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Xpatweb said the Minister’s commitment to focus on\u00a0processing<\/span> the resultant appeals is a positive development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The concession for foreigners was first introduced in September 2022 by former Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi due to a serious backlog in the visa application process. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At one point, the visa backlog stood at 300,000, dating back to a decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, it should be noted that the temporary measures announced <\/strong>will not apply to permanent residence applicants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Permanent residence permit applicants must ensure that their temporary resident status in South Africa is kept valid at all times while they wait for their outcome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Under Minister Schreiber’s leadership, the DHA continues to reach important milestones and has introduced several encouraging reforms to the visa regime,” said Xpatweb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“He has been consistent about his vision for efficient service delivery by embracing modern technological solutions and improving access to the department’s services.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The visa consulting service added that the minister has, on several occasions, committed to positioning the DHA as a powerful engine for economic growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This includes highlighting the importance of highly skilled foreign professionals and how they can contribute to the South African economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Outside of professional visas<\/a>, Schreiber has also attempted to expand tourist numbers via the Trusted Tour Operator Scheme (TTOS), which should increase tourist numbers from China and India.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new system will cut red tape and hold the TTOS participants liable for the misrepresentation or transgressions committed by their clients.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Home Affairs has eradicated 94% of the 300,000-strong visa backlog, but this may have created some more challenges.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":780918,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[2524,12739],"class_list":["post-818886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-home-affairs","tag-xpatweb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/818886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=818886"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/818886\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":818925,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/818886\/revisions\/818925"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/780918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=818886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=818886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=818886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}