Question NW1483 to the Minister of Home Affairs
13 August 2020 - NW1483
Roos, Mr AC to ask the Minister of Home Affairs
With regard to the implementation of the e-visa system, (a) what is the status of and deadline for establishing the central adjudication hub, (b) what is the status of the development of the e-visa software system and deadline for its completion and (c) with a 10% decline in visa applications from China, India and Nigeria between 2018 and 2019 being attributed to longer turnaround times at missions, what actions are being taken by his department to strengthen the capacity of the specified missions that comprise 59% of all visa applications?
Reply:
a) The Department established a Central Adjudication Hub at Head Office in November 2019 when it commenced with the testing of eVisa which took place in Kenya. Adjudication of eVisa applications from abroad was successfully tested at this Central Adjudication Hub.
b) The eVisa System development has been completed.
c) On 10 July 2019, during the Department’s Budget Vote, we committed to increase the number of Officials who are processing visas in our large tourist hubs in China, India and Nigeria. We have since deployed 12 Officials (4 in each country) on a temporary basis to process the large number of tourist applications we receive from these countries. We have also presented a Business Case to National Treasury for permanent appointment in our critical Missions.
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