Question NW4076 to the Minister of Home Affairs

Reply:

Honourable Member, this question of visa backlogs was responded to in September 2023 and seems to be appearing again two months later. But it is also appearing in the media in various forms.

The central claim by various media houses, individuals and sometimes even companies, or organisations is that the department of home affairs is causing economic stagnation and contributing largely to unemployment by delaying the processing of visas.

I wish to take this opportunity to clarify matters in this regard.

Contrary to popular belief,the department has no undue delays on visas that impacts directly on the economy and employment. The delays and the backlogs are on two special categories of visas which I will elaborate on below,

The majority of applications received for temporary Residence visa are categories that belongs to section 11 (6) and Section 18. These sections denote to spousal visas and relative visas respectively as enacted in the Immigration Act (Act 13 of 2002).

The department is not just deliberately delaying the processing of such visas.

The department is experiencing significant and ever increasing challenges with regards to legitimacy of relationships being claimed or cited as a reason for applying for these visas.

Some foreign nationals have taken advantage and gets into corruption to legitimise themselves, family members, friends and others.

The number of fraudulent marriages, marriages of convenience and a special category of cohabitation are unfortunately on the increase.

The category of cohabitation is even more problematic and easily attracts corruption because all that two people claiming to be staying with each other need to produce is a contract written by the notary public (notarial contract). There is nothing in law that forbids two people to legitimise their relationship through a notarial contract. The problem is that some of the contracts presented to the department looks very suspicious and warrants a thorough investigation when such applications are processed. More worryingly, spousal visa applications based on the notarial contracts are on the increase.

It is common cause that the department does not have enough Immigration officers who have to be tasked with the difficult job of investigating authenticity of relationships. Yet, without knowing whether relationships are authentic, the department will find itself issuing visas to people who do not deserve to be in the country.

As of 14 December 2023, approximately 86 per cent of the backlog consists of this relationship visas.

The department has developed a plan to address the backlog. The plan aims to move the older Temporary Residency Visa applications from 2022 concurrently with the current applications of 2023.

Reply: Approved / Not Approved

Dr PA Motsoaledi, MP

Minister of Home Affairs

Date: