Question NW4018 to the Minister of Home Affairs
04 December 2023 - NW4018
van der Merwe, Ms LL to ask the Minister of Home Affairs
Whether, considering his recent statement that there is no backlog of critical skills applications with regard to work permits and noting that a report by The Presidency has revealed that it takes 48 weeks or more to process an application, he has found this to be a reasonable timeline for the processing of a visa; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, (a) what processes need to be followed that take up so much time, (b) what total number of critical skills applications are currently in the system and (c) by what date will the specified applications be completed?
Reply:
a) The Work Visa Review Report by Operation Vulindlela did not state that it takes Home Affairs 48 weeks to process an application. What the Report pointed out was that a work visa applicant can take about 48 weeks across all entities to obtain supporting documents for an application. These entities are the applicant’s security authorities from country of origin for the Police Clearance certificate, SAQA verification of qualifications, Medical Practitioners for medical certificates, the recommendation certificate from the Department of Employment and Labour, and the now removed requirement for a radiological report. These are the activities that take place prior to the applicant approaching the Department to submit an application. On receipt of the application, the Department processes the application within 20 working days.
The Department is already implementing the Vulindlela recommendations, some of which are that certain non-critical supporting documents should be removed from the process.
b) As at the 24th of November 2023, there were 349 pending critical skills work visa applications pending in the system.
c) The above mentioned applications are due for completion within 20 working days from date of application.
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