Question NW1570 to the Minister of Home Affairs
22 May 2023 - NW1570
Herron, Mr BN to ask the Minister of Home Affairs
(1) Whether, with regard to the various visas available to foreign nationals for entrance to and/or residence in the Republic, he and/or his department established standards for the time period a decision on an application will be made for each of the visa types; if not, (a) why not and (b) what are the standards for each visa type; if so, (2) whether time frames for decision-making are managed by regulations; if not, why not; if so, (a) which regulations and (b) how does his department implement the Batho Pele principles; (3) what is the average time it has taken over the past two years for a decision on each visa type to be made and communicated to the applicants; (4) whether his department has assessed the economic impact of legal immigration on the Republic; if not, why not; if so, what is the impact in Rand value; (5) whether his department will assess the economic value and/or impact of legal immigration; if not, why not; if so, by what date?
Reply:
- 1. The Department has turnaround times for visas that have a direct economic contribution in as far as employment and investment are concerned. The turnaround times are as follows:
- Critical Skill work visa: turnaround time is 4 weeks
- General work visa: turnaround time is 8 weeks
- Business visa: turnaround time is 8 weeks
2. The Immigration Regulations do not make provision for time frames for decision-making on visa applications.
- Section 7 of The Immigration Act, No. 13 of 2002 which confers powers to the Minister in relation to the Immigration Regulations does not prescribe the time frames for decision-making.
- The Department endeavours to process visa applications in line with the principle of Service Standards as envisaged in the Batho Pele Principles. The volume of applications received and accepted daily by the Department currently exceeds the available human resource capacity in the Chief Directorate: Permits to issue, in equal measure, the equivalent number of outcomes to applicants The Department has already been open and transparent by publicly announcing that the current backlog will be cleared by June 2024.
3. The visa categories which are measured as per the Department’s Annual Performance Plan are critical skills, business and general work visas. Performance over the last two financial years indicates the following:
- Financial Year 2022/23: the average number of weeks to finalise Business and General work visas was between 4,3 and 4,7 weeks.
- Financial Year 2022/23: the average number of weeks to finalise Critical Skills work visas is between 6 and 6,5 weeks.
- Financial Year 2021/22: the average number of weeks to issue Business and General work visas was between 5,3 and 6 weeks.
- Financial Year 2021/22: the average number of weeks of Critical Skills work visas issued was between 4,6 and 5 weeks.
4. The Department has not assessed the economic impact of legal immigration on the Republic, as yet. Such an exercise will require an independent research study to be commissioned.
5. The Department has successfully collaborated with the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) on research work for the development and drafting of The Critical Skills List. Once DHET invites research proposals the Department will request that a study on the economic impact of legal immigration on the Republic be considered on behalf of Home Affairs.
END