South Africa's new Minister of Home Affairs, Dr Leon Schreiber, has extended to December 31, 2024, the temporary concession for migrant workers who are currently awaiting the outcome of visa, waiver and appeal applications.
Zimbabweans studying and working legally in the neighbouring country are set to benefit from the extension.
An estimated 170 000 Zimbabweans are living and working in South Africa under the Zimbabwe Exemption Permits (ZEP) and some of their applications for renewal are yet to be finalised.
In a statement yesterday, the SA Department of Home Affairs said this extension safeguarded applicants, including those who were contributing to the South African economy through their scarce skills.
Dr Schreiber, a member of the Democratic Alliance who was appointed to Cabinet under the Government of National Unity this week, said the workers were suffering from the adverse consequences of being erroneously deemed undesirable, while they awaited the outcome of applications submitted to the Department of Home Affairs.
The temporary concession applies only to foreign nationals who have been legally admitted into South Africa and those 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 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 served 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, the Minister was committed to avoiding a repeat of the current situation, which had seen the previous concession expire prior to the extension being announced.
"The 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 June 30, 2024, are granted a further temporary extension until December 31, 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 December 31, 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 December 31, 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."
Non-visa exempt applicants who travelled out of the country with a waiver application receipt were 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 had applied for long-term visas, business visas, study visas, relatives' visas and work visas and whose application was still pending as at June 30, 2024, were also granted a further temporary extension until December 31.
However, the applicants were not allowed to engage in any activity other than what the visa conditions provided for.
Visa holders who needed to travel, but were awaiting the outcome of a long-term visa application, would be allowed to exit and re-enter at a port of entry up to and including December 31, 2024, without being declared undesirable in terms of the Immigration Act.
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"However, 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.
"All appeal applicants were required to produce a copy of the rejection letter with a receipt for the appeal application on departure and re-entry into South Africa.
"Short term visa holders issued in terms of section 11(1)(a) of the Immigration Act, 2002 for 90 days or less, who have applied for a renewal, but have not received their visa renewal outcome, must make the necessary arrangements to depart from South Africa within 90 calendar days from the date of expiry of the principal visa, to avoid being declared undesirable.
"The latter concession is in line with the provisions of section 11(1)(a) of the Immigration Act, 2002 which limits the duration of sojourn for visiting purposes to a total of 180 days," added the Department.
