Nearly a year ago, Minister of Home Affairs Leon Schreiber published a video in which he visited the permitting section of his department, jovially dancing in a Christmas hat and celebrating the clearing of a visa processing backlog that had dated back over a decade.
@leon.schreib One of the first things I did after my appointment as Home Affairs Minister was to visit our visa backlog team, with the message that we want a Christmas without the decade-old backlog hanging over us. Today, Deputy Minister Nzuza and I went back to celebrate this team for their incredible work - with all of us dressed in Christmas outfits! Within a matter of months, we have processed an incredible 261 845 applications and will hit 94% backlog eradication by year end - with only mopping up and appeals remaining. In fact, our team is working so fast that we are struggling to keep up with printing and issuing outcomes. This has been a year of inspiring progress at Home Affairs. Next year, we will take the lessons learnt from this project and the foundation we’ve laid to fully digitalise and automate our processes, and take service delivery to new heights. We love our country and we are proud of the contribution we are making as one team, with one dream. South Africa, this is your #TeamHomeAffairs ♬ original sound - LeonSchreib
The video was accompanied by a statement indicating that by the end of 2024, the backlog would “hit a 94% eradication by the year end”, with only “mopping up and appeals remaining”.
What a positive and enlightening post it was. A mere six months after the Government of National Unity was established and a light at the end of the tunnel could finally be seen. With that positivity, there has been an increase in tourism and legal immigration to South Africa, with the airports overflowing with foreigners coming to South Africa, and many South Africans returning home.
I wanted to believe the positivity around the Department of Home Affairs’ publicity – the cleaning up of corruption, speedier civic services for South African citizens and an eradication of a backlog of applications for tax-paying foreigners in South Africa.
From celebration to silence
When I briefly met Schreiber earlier this year, he conveyed his positivity to me and said that he hoped that, as an immigration attorney, I was seeing an improvement in the immigration system. “Partly”, I said to him, not having the time or platform to discuss the systemic problems and lack of staff of which he is aware, having appointed an Immigration Advisory Board earlier in the year.
However, on 23 September 2025, a new directive for foreigners in South Africa was released, acknowledging that the department still faced a backlog, but only for those with pending appeals, waiver applications or permanent residency applications. No mention was made of temporary residency applications for skilled workers, business owners, spouses, retirees or tourists in the country.
Immigrants paying the price
With the holidays looming and flights booked to see family and friends abroad, immigrants to South Africa who have diligently and timeously filed their applications are now in a world of panic. Simple renewal applications or extensions of tourist visas have been pending for six months or longer.
Status updates received from the department are provided only if an applicant calls or emails the Department of Home Affairs, whereby they are provided with a reference number and told that their application has been “escalated”. Nothing further transpires.
I hear the stories from immigrants to South Africa daily – foreigners unable to run their businesses because their bank accounts have been frozen, unable to reunite with their spouse in South Africa, unable to travel abroad to visit ill family – all due to administrative delays and a failure by the department to provide a solution.
Some brave applicants take the risk of booking a flight and pleading their case with the Border Management Authority. Many are banned from returning to South Africa for a year – or even five – because there are no legal provisions in place for their legal exit. Others decide to remain in the country, missing significant family moments such as funerals or weddings, or important business meetings to secure international funding.
The fix the minister won’t acknowledge
I never believed that the appointment of a new minister would be an instant fix. Decades of infrastructural decay, shortage of staff and corruption are all problems which will take years to remedy. What I do believe, however, is that Schreiber needs to immediately acknowledge that these problems are still widespread and still exist.
However, my impression of the current state of immigration affairs in South Africa is that of a publicity stunt more than actual long-term change. The failure to recognise that a large portion of the Department of Home Affairs’ job – the adjudication of temporary and permanent residency applications for foreigners – is glossed over in a media spin so strong that not even the minister wishes to acknowledge the continued failure of the department by people who rely on the service to be delivered.
Acknowledgement of the very real backlog that plagues South African immigration is a first step. An amended directive from the department allowing anyone on a receipt of application for their pending visa should be allowed to freely leave the country with proof that they have applied.
This is an actionable, straightforward step which would positively affect tens of thousands of legal immigrants in the country and could be done with the stroke of a pen. DM