HELL AFFAIRS
Take a hike: Home Affairs’ memo on visas is chasing away our seasonal expats or ‘swallows’
The Department of Home Affairs has told international visitors hoping to extend their stay by a further 90 days that they must leave two months earlier than they would otherwise have expected. It’s another own-goal for the country.
Sun chasers or “swallows” who haven’t received a visa renewal by 23 February have been advised to heed the latest Department of Home Affairs’ (DHA) directive instructing them to leave South Africa by the end of February, or risk being banned.
The surprise directive, published on 21 December 2023 and titled “Concession: extension of temporary concession in respect of foreign nationals in light of a continued backlog in processing outcomes on waiver applications, visa applications and appeal applications” notes that short-term visas that were issued in terms of section 11(1)(a) of the Immigration Act “for 90 days or less, up to and including 30 November 2023, who have applied for a renewal of the visa have not received the visa renewal outcome by 23 February 2024, they must make the necessary arrangements to depart from South Africa on or before 29 February 2024 to avoid being declared and desirable (sic)”.
The Border Management Authority is under strict instructions from the DHA to enforce the directive, which at the same time gives foreigners whose waiver and visa applications were still pending as at 30 November 2023, including long-term visas such as business, study, relatives or work visas, another extension. Applicants falling under these categories have been given extensions until 30 June 2024 on their current visa status.
This, despite the DHA’s own inefficiencies and incompetence to complete what should ordinarily be a simple task: South Africa grants short-term visas on arrival to a raft of countries and territories, including Canada, the European Union, and Namibia for 90 days. During this time, theoretically, visitors can apply for an extension of a further 90 days. Due to corruption and ineptness within the department, it is unable to do so in a reasonable time.
Swallows, who chase the sun, have grown accustomed to using their six-months in the country to their advantage, where they bask in a Mediterranean climate for a fraction of the cost of a European holiday. Their euros, pounds and dollars stretch further at our resorts, game reserves, in the winelands and at restaurants, making South Africa an attractive option for visitors, particularly retirees.
The eleventh-hour 21 December directive cut short their hopes of a longer stay in SA, forcing visitors to leave two months earlier than expected or risk being declared “undesirable” and banned.
This is causing immense uncertainty in the market and making South Africa less appealing to tourists, said Dirk Meissner, the managing director of Wanderlust, an immigration and naturalisation service in Stellenbosch.
Lost opportunity
In what should be a simple process to extend their stays in SA for a total of 180 days, the department is messing up, said Meissner, noting that the DHA made two critical mistakes, by omitting mention of retired visas and botching the pending 90-day extensions. “We had a lot of swallows coming in early in October/November and duly submitted their visa extensions, planning on staying 180 days, as they may. So typically they would like to stay until April but now have to leave on 29 February 2024.
“The word economic sabotage, especially here in the Western Cape comes to mind.”
Swallows are a strength for the province, because of their investment in the Cape and their consumption, Meissner said — from hospitality, to suppliers, and services. “Everyone smiles and is grateful for what they receive. Does our Home Affairs Minister really sit in such isolation that he does not see any of this, the desperation of South Africans for these kinds of jobs and contributions?”
Visitors do not know how long the visa extension application will take and in many cases, the outcomes are only delivered months later.
“The average processing time is 132 days, for a simple 90-day visa. Some (of my clients’ applications) are still pending since January last year. About 90% of swallows have property in the Western Cape.”
Misery loves company
Kristina Gromova of De Jure Immigration agreed, saying spouses have been separated from each other, and children are separated from their parents. “Some have missed out on important family occasions, including the opportunity to say goodbye to a loved one who passed away, graduation ceremonies, weddings of close family members, anniversaries, etc, because of the fear of not being able to return once they have departed.”
Previously, it was quite simple to apply for some visas, Gromova said, but the “verification” process that the DHA has implemented is causing further delays as not all institutions respond immediately or at all — for example banks in Europe will not verify or confirm details regarding their clients’ financial standing when asked to do so by the DHA due to privacy and banking laws applicable in those countries.
2023 was a particularly bad year, explained Stefanie de Saude-Darbandi, another immigration attorney, whose firm led almost 90 high court cases, including four delay cases representing close to 800 outstanding visa applications.
“The duty rests on (the DHA) to process these applications. People are applying in time, especially swallows who do nothing other than spend money here.”
What to do?
Motsoaledi’s “backlog eradication plan” for residency permits and visas has failed to clear the backlog, with the minister telling Parliament last year that the backlog remained at almost 75,000, with an additional backlog of 44,000 in permanent residency permits.
There are “formidable” backlogs in the approval process: Despite losing in the Supreme Court of Appeal, where the court was critical of the minister’s ultimate responsibility for the department’s behaviour, the delays have also worsened.
A leaked memorandum from the State Attorney’s office on class action suits is scathing of the impact the delays, the DHA’s conduct — and consequent litigation — has on the government. The memo, drafted by Shireen Karjiker, Dalphine Smith and Sachin-Lee Simpson, says SA remains a destination of choice for foreigners wanting to migrate here but that they are concerned that the DHA’s inability to adjudicate permits are spawning litigation and escalating legal costs.
The memo states that after the DHA lost a case brought by De Saude’s firm in the Supreme Court of 2017, courts have issued cost orders worth millions of rands against the department, with numerous matters still pending.
“It can safely be noted that it is very apparent that nothing has changed since the De Saude SCA judgment. There is still an overwhelming number of permits in the system at DHA that require adjudication and backlog that has no end in sight…”
Buck stops here
Noting a recent Constitutional Court judgment in favour of Lawyers for Human Rights, the office said that here was not even the remotest hint of an apology by Minister Aaron Motsoaledi and Director General Livhuwani Tommy Makhode for the “deplorable state” of Home Affairs, nor the fact that Makhode admitted to signing an affidavit without “applying his mind” to the contents.
“Our opponents are most definitely going to capitalise on this judgment.”
Attorney Gary Eisenberg said he has been “in constant” litigation against the DHA over the past 20 years. “Home Affairs is no longer in compliance with the Constitution and is a rogue department. It does not comply with the Bill of Rights or with court orders. That is a major problem. Unfortunately, in as much as 50% of the time, it does not comply with the orders. You first have to go back to court for contempt proceedings to enforce the order. And that is shocking.”
The DHA failed to respond to requests for comment.
For now, De Saude warns visitors who have a short term visa application pending that they must leave by the end of February, because if not, they will be declared “undesirable”.
“Follow the waiver because these officials have strict instructions to apply the blanket waiver.”
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Welcome to our world, where the people carry the many and diverse costs of our useless government.
It is entirely (sic).
Yet another own-goal.
Hardly surprising considering the ANC’s track record when it comes to policy. I have friends from Germany who bought a plot of land in the EC in the late 2000’s. They are slowly building what is planned to be their retirement house and invest significantly in SA through their activities when they come to visit each year. They told me in December now when I visited with them that they would be leaving SA in early January, much earlier than expected, for the exact reasons highlighted in this article. They have been given such a run-around by the DHA over the years that they now only come into the country on a tourist visa. I almost am left wondering why they even bother anymore.
We want tourist income, but we don’t want tourists! We want foreign industrial investment, but we don’t want foreign industries! Where to ANC? What we actually want is a new South Africa beyond the bumbling corruption and incompetence of the ANC.
Well said sir, except we don’t “want” a new SA without the ANC in control, we need it, it must happen and in fact we demand it!
Absolutely Deplorable!
Absolutely No Idea ! BROKEN!!
NO DESIRE to REPAIR!!!…And they want to Encourage Tourism? And…they want to Increase Jobs/Employment Opportunities for RSA Resudents ?
The illegal visitors that cross our boarders without papers grows everyday, what is their contribution to the economy?
Shoot yourself in one foot and then shoot in the other. Shame DHA can’t get its act together. Efficiency and clarity would go a long way to helping ensure the local (tourist/hospitality) economy benefitted and jobs are created. Shame
Almost all visa extensions are processed by VFS Global and not by DHA, except for the rubber stump at the end. Could you get a comment from VFS Global to determine whether their business is still performing as usual, or whether this has been completely stopped? Or something in between? Outrage/reaction is all well and good, but journalists must remember their primary job is getting the facts.
If this is really the reason for the delay, then it is not the job of journalists to verify it. It is up to the DHA administration to hire a competent company or do it yourself.
DHA centralised this process in 2022. No more missions or VFS centres providing visas. VFS and the missions only collect the data and forward to DHA. What happens in DHA … who knows?
When it still processed by VFS it was super fast and efficient.
My wife and I are living in SA on Retired Person permits, which we have to renew every four years. We do this through VFS now having previously done so through DHA offices. The expense incurred is worth every penny when weighed between past and current hassle involved.
We had our most recent renewal interview with VFS in early in October 2023 and received notification, ( ?all the paperwork having been completed), about two weeks later that the documents had been received by the DHA in Pretoria. I ‘tracked’ progress about a week ago and the position is as it was twelve weeks ago i.e. still in the DHA in Pretoria.
The VFS do they’re job.It’s DHA where the rubber stamps probably are too heavy to lift for the poor
employees.I have documented that my retirement visa application has been received by DHA on the
26th of April 2022, still waiting and was now also forced to sue them at a cost of R 16.000,–and have to
wait for the court date in may.
VFS Global is still the initial point of contact for visas and do all the checking that papers are in order. The DHA are totally dysfunctional and there should have been clean out long ago. The only thing they appear capable of is scamming people who are waiting for their visas to be processed. A good job for the journalists would be to ask Hawks how many cases have been opened against DHA in the last 2 years.
It is estimated they make R500 million a year on SA visa processing for the DHA. Check the blog of new world immigration. Search for “Gupta and Duduzane”, a business link hotly denied by the DHA.
Add to the fact, they recently moved offices in Brooklyn from a building with parking to one where clients are forced to park chaotically on the narrow street where there is not a single parking bay demarcated.
Another demonstration of gross incompetence by the SA government. Absolute idiots is the politest thing I can say. The most frustrating thing is this incompetence goes unpunished and the idiots remain in office! The ANC government and the (non) Public Service should hang their heads in shame. But that will never happen- they will instead award themselves bonuses.
The relics of Bantu education, that most evil dimension of apartheid, will continue to haunt the country for at least another generation.
Forever actually. The ‘matriculants’ that are being ‘passed’ by the current administration are mostly functionally illiterate and innumerate and the standards are declining still, thanks to SADTU.
While thousands stream across the Limpopo unchecked, our idiotic national government hunts down and forces out wealthy retired Europeans to ensure they can’t spend their money and boost our economy.
Faced this situation in early 2023 on a 5 month visit. Application in person at VFS went smoothly, albeit slowly. No approval ever arrived – passport control at airport asked to see our visa extension application – and stamped our passports for exit.
This year we have decided to limit our stay to 3 months – the bureaucracy and stress not worth the hassle………..
Motsoaledi and Makhode should be sued in their personal capacity – and a court order ordering their arrest if they do not comply with court orders, should be asked by the lawyers of these tourist firms.
Sadly these sorts of shoulds rarely become coulds much less woulds in Msanzi.
Motsoaledi is another serial incompetent struggling with even the slightest success in his years in Cabinet. Ramaphosa doesn’t like any changes among the seniors there and unless ill health forces retirement or death they are there, moribund…. think too Cele, Zuma, Mantashe, and many others.
Ramaphosa’s ‘collective’. Gwede Mantashe, Blade Nzimande, Bheki Cele, Aaron Motsoaledi, Paul Mashatile, Naledi Pandor. AKA as South Africa’s primary wrecking crew. Nothing any of the members of this circus does is beneficial to our beleaguered country. Secure in their cushy over-paid jobs with massive perks, each is harmful to the state in their own capacity. And Cyril Ramaphosa smiles down on them and trots out meaningless speeches at every opportunity without ever displaying any vestige of leadership. Imagine the chaos if they win another 5 years in office.
Right on. Another 5 years too ghastly to contemplate. The Comments are all about damage caused to South Africa. But don’t we get it by now. Follow the money to and for the ANC and it’s functionaries and hold on power, not a distant 2nd the good of South Africa. Too many of the illogical policies of this cANCer government only make sense because of this.
Hard to believe that this isn’t at least in part aimed at hurting the western cape. It seems too stupid even for deployees of the glorious liberation movement to have cooked up without malicious intent. My dad has an air bnb there that gets booked out for months at a time by exactly the sort of foreigners that this is intended chase away. They have the money to pick from many of the other attractive destinations that the world has to offer and no doubt this will be the trigger for some of them and thousands of others to foxtrot oscar with the hundreds of thousands of rands worth of forex they bring in. .
I agree with your thoughts on hurting the Western Cape. I do think this is exactly what was behind that idiotic memo in December 2023. The ANC are desperate and want to own the Western Cape – the fact that it is the best run province in South Africa and is controlled by the DA causes the ANC cadres to issue stupid instructions like that memo. Simply done out of pure malice. That’s all.
It would be interesting to know the supposed justification for not granting a blanket extension where an application has been made to extend a 90 day visa but not dealt with due to the incompetence of DHA. It is either stupidity or economic sabotage aimed at the Western Cape.
The results of employing incompetent people who do not have a clue as to the result of their actions. They in turn will eventually be retrenched as they will be not adding any value but destroying the tourist industry
If all these delays were happening for a good reason, fine. Trouble is immigration is now the country’s default political scapegoat. It won’t end well.
Not only foreign tourists, but also South African citizens living in Europe are unfortunately increasingly suffering from the excessive bureaucracy of the DHA. You can wait up to 18 months to renew your passport or to obtain important documents such as birth or marriage certificates. For certain matters that could be handled by post or email 20 years ago, you have to appear in person at the embassy or consulate general, which, depending on where you live, involves a journey of several hundred kilometers. If you do not receive the document in time, you will not be able to go on a planned trip, apply for a pension or even lose your residence permit. I know people who, after more than forty years, gave up their South African citizenship and accepted that of their host country for reasons like this alone.
I have a gym where a number of my members are digital nomads enjoying Cape Town. Young foreigners visiting SA while they continue to work on their jobs overseas and earn euros or dollars. They spend money at local businesses like mine. This could be a huge benefit to particularly Cape Town. We should be encouraging these visitors who don’t take local jobs, but rather help create jobs due to their spend.
Their incompetence, corruption and arrogance are beyond the pale. Their gross stupidity is only outdone by the people who voted these morons in. Wake up South Africa and stop voting ANC.
What else can one expectct from the ANC with a collective IQ that can be counted on the fingers of one hand with digits to spare.
I’m a swallow. Over the last ten years I estimate that between my wife and I we’ve spent around R6,000,000. We have a one bedroom flat at the coast, a second-hand car, and do a lot of touring around national parks.
Apart from the visa business, the biggest problem is loadshedding. At the
Strange that you have a car. I know a number of swallows who were not allowed to buy a car because they couldn’t get a traffic certificate because they didn’t have a residency visa. The stupid thing is that they were able to buy property. Just makes no sense.
I hope you are able to continue to enjoy your visit to this wonderful and varied country.
Kakistocracy
A kakistocracy is a government run by the worst, least qualified, or most unscrupulous citizens. The word was coined as early as the seventeenth century. Wikipedia
Darren Simpson – Kfm 94.5 TikTok video et al
Home Affairs is a complete disgrace and the minister and Director General should both be fired. They are undermining the very desperate need for economic growth and jobs which these visitors bring by spending
foreign cash here, as well as other categories of immigrants who bring much needed technical and managerial skills to further economic growth and jobs.
After waiting since Februari ’22 for a temporary retired person visa via VFS in Cape Town, we gave up and re-applied via the Brussels consulate. Took 10 working days. Apparently some things are still working…
This is typical of a dysfunctional department. Can the Western Cape government not take the Department of Home Affairs to court over this. I believe that the Western Cape is the province who stands to loose the most financially. The tourists spend their money here and does not cost the SA taxpayer a cent. It creates jobs and is a huge inflow into our economy. Doing something about this should be seen as an extremely high priority. Every TV station and news agency should report on this and call out the minister (DHA).
This is the racist, incompetent and deplorable anc at its best. No accountability, no consequences for these rapacious and thieving cabal of morons who lord it in this country as if it is their own. The comments aptly sum up the situation, especially pointing out the totally useless individuals at the helm of our country and who are driving it into the ground. Tourism is such a money-spinner with it flowing positively all around, but we have become experts at failure, shooting ourselves in the foot and scoring own goals – just like just about everything that this vile and criminal government does. If only the sleep-walking masses would wake up!!!!
Incompetence or wilful, malicious intent? Either way Motsoaledi has excelled in overseeing one of the most incompetent of all the incompetent departments. It is really difficult to credit the level of sheer stupidity at play in these decisions. And the poor, under-serviced masses will continue to vote these clowns in again and again – as Zuma promised – until the return of Jesus. And Ramaphosa has the nerve to talk of a non-racist, non-sexist blah blah blah society. There must be a way??????
One can only shake one’s head in disbelief at the sheer arrogance of a totally useless department and minister.
It is tragic how the incompetence & shortsightedness of our various government departments continue to erode the country’s economy. We live in a part of our nation (a small coastal village) that is dependent on the money (and job creation) these ‘swallows’ bring every summer and beyond. Stifling directives such as these will only encourage these visitors to look elsewhere to enjoy their ‘endless summer’…
Kakistocracy doing what it does & certainly living up to its name. In every single aspect of governance.
being declared and desirable (sic)”.
The incompetence is staggering.
In a struggling economy brought on by the Comrades, the Motsoaledi wrecking ball strikes again.
Instead of being in jail for the Esidemeni debacle, he’s now destroying our Tourism industry as well.
Does Ramasofa not see this?
They clearly don’t care.. how soon can we get rid of the these clowns?
Haibo!
The DHA objective seems clear to me. The majority of the so-called “swallows” stay in the Western Cape while here, contributing to the success of this DA run province. Join the Dots!
By some counts we have 4 million persons illegally in South Africa, never mind staying longer than an official 90 day visa…
For people in this situation, what would happen if you leave, come back = get the new automatic 90 day? Can be as simple as go to a neighboring country for a weekend, turn around after three days and come back?
Neighbouring countries do not count – you only get seven days on re-entry.
No Mauritius or Seychelles as bad. These seven days also hurt SA if tourist come for eexample from Namibia – they just head to CPT internatinal if they bother to come at all…
My husband, a UK tourist, applied for a medical visa in August 2023 to receive cancer treatment. Six months later, we have received nothing. Money paid to a consultant, R8000, was wasted as they just helped completing forms and arranging an interview. Now my husband will still require another 6 months of intensive treatments and we still have to leave the country to enter again as a tourist to allow him to continue with his treatment.
The ANC destroys everything
Unfortunately SA is in the hands of totally arrogant, incompetent and corrupt pathological liars and this directive is definitely an attempt to destroy the WC as the tribal way rule is what I can’t have must be destroyed and that is the big danger for the future of the WC which is the only province in the country where anything works. Their thinking is as per the education system whereby most are too uneducated to pass so they dumb down the curriculum and then congratulate themselves for having produced a bunch of unemployable idiots.
Typical ANC cadres….lazy, corrupt, and completely inept.
I know some swallows (in the 90% bracket) who will suffer from this directive.
Me and my wife were suffering too when covid hit and our retirement visas were in limbo. They extended it every quarter on the last two days of the quarter.
The temporary visas are four years for the main applicant and three years for the dependents! How stupid – what do you do after three years?
It gets worse if you have to apply in different categories: some family members get their visa others are denied -> appeals and more backlogs with huge costs on the applicants.
We applied for permanent residency in early 2017. At that time they told me processing time was 18 months… They do not answer the phone, they do not reply to emails.
What could be done better?
– give temporary visas for a longer period, say 6 years and for ALL applicants
– stamp renewals directly at VFS global (they check _every_ application and send you home if anything is not by the book)
– stamp applications at VFS and check every 10th or so to weed out fishy applications
– grant permanent residency for a family if they produce a title deed for a property worth over x million like they do it in other countries
– have a list of “friendly countries” were you fast track the visas like Panama does (Cuba is not on their list)
As a foreigner I do not feel welcome here by the officials and I have the suspicion that there is an agenda behind it above incompetence, load shedding and poor IT.
irrationality seems to rule. Shame!
Irrational!
Incompetent Cadre Commies
It is clear. This governments sole mandate is to destroy SA.
Can these swallows not nip over the border to namibia or Botswana to get a new 90 day entry permit?
I have family in the same situation they are retired have sufficient funds to support themselves, create work by having a gardener and house helper. My brother in law donates his time to helping out at old age homes and creches doing handyman jobs (obviously at no costs) just to assist the poorest who need help yet they are waiting on there PRPs that were submitted in 2018, the own a house,car travel the country thereby contributing tax to the Gov but have to constantly go back and forth out of the country due to the ineptness of DHA…..really really sad, chasing people out and loving revenue.
DHA took over 7 years to process my first work visa. I couldn’t travel during that time. My Mum died recently without seeing her son in a decade because of this negligence. To make matters worse, when applying to renew the visa, DHA said that their own issued visa was fraudulent because they didn’t put it on their system.
Shocking treatment of our foreign guests who contribute significantly to the fiscus. But not unexpected from the current govt.
The DHA has become a deeply delinquent, corrupt, state organisation. It is fleecing travellers, denying visas, not answering phones, not dealing with queries, and being impossibly slow with routine issues.
Thousands of regular yearly visitors are being delayed, refused, not answered, and ignored by bribe-seeking officials.
The DHA dearly costs our tourism industry and economy through their idiotic shameful incompetence.
Yep, I am married to a South African and we have children. I am still waiting for my PR just shy of 6 years. They told me it would be issued at the end of last year. I submitted outstanding paperwork but at this rate my current visa will expire before I have to apply for a new one in 12 months.
I am sitting here in line at DHA waiting to get my son his first ID. It has been 7.5 hours since we got in line 2 hours before they opened. Their system was offline for 2 hours when they opened. On for an hour then off again for an hour…on and off…on and off.
Many, many valid complaints but this government needs to experience own consequences. Visitors should lodge complaints via their embassies. Their own countries could apply processing ‘difficulties’ for SA government officials and their families. The pressure needs to be applied in every way so that high ranking officials feel the same pain and inconvenience. It can be done but efforts must be applied to turn the tables. Think.
It is now for the third year in a row that I have been asked to complete a Government Employees Pension Fund Life Verification form. The reason stated is that they could not verify my personal details with the Department of Home Affairs Home Affairs. The catch-22 situation is that although the form was posted on 6 August, and had to be completed, verified by a commissioner of oaths and returned before 15 November, I only received this form on 30 November last year. I expected this and acted proactively and contacted the government Pension Administration authority who sent me a dated pdf copy of the form on 17 October. I had this completed and emailed to them on 24 October. In full compliance with their requirements. However, my pension was still suspended and did not receive payment on 31 December 2023. As a Permanent Resident I have an old style green ID book that I used successfully in 2022 when travelling overseas. Also on checking my details with the local Home Affairs Office I noted that all my personal details are on their records but somehow they could not verify my status. Repeated letters with copies of certified documents submitted are not acknowledged, and when phoning up the Department, speaking to their staff I am advised again and again to resubmit the documents. These are all examples of gross incompetence and one wonders if the recent court findings of the ID ruling will have any effect?
These morons really are their own category of natural disaster. Their ability to find complexity in the most mundane of tasks is truly breathtaking. South Korean toddlers are probably higher functioning by the age of 4.
Thats a bit harsh! Lets settle on 4 and a half.
Speechless. I am seriously beginning to think the ANC hates the success of the DA run W Cape so much they will destroy millions of job for “our” people, destroy this industry to ultimately destroy the DA.