Question NW756 to the Minister of Home Affairs
03 April 2024 - NW756
Arries, Ms LH to ask the Minister of Home Affairs
What (a) are the reasons that (i) applicants for relative and/or spousal permits wait as long as two years for their permits and (ii) is the reason for the prolonged process and (b) number of applications for the specified permits has been outstanding in the past five years?
Reply:
(a)(i) Applicants for relative and/or spousal permits wait as long as two years for their visa due to the requirement that their notarial agreements and other documents such as birth certificates, bank statements and marriage certificates submitted as proof of existence of a spousal or parental relationship are verified. In order to establish the legitimacy of any relative and/ or spousal relationship for a visa application, the adjudication process requires that such relationships should be verified for authenticity. This includes verification of the notarial agreements and other supporting documents submitted in support of such applications with the issuing authority. In most cases the contact number of the purported South African spouse and/ or relative is also not provided, making it difficult to confirm with certainty that the South Africa Citizen is indeed party to the relationship.
(a)(ii) The reason for the prolonged process is due to the verification process of the legitimacy claims by the applicants.
(b) The Department has developed a Backlog Eradication Plan and the Plan was presented to the Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs. The Plan includes amongst other additional capacity to complement the current Immigration Services’ team. An additional 117 officials coming from Head Office and Provinces have been put together to deal with the Backlog Eradication Plan.
The Department through Operation Vulindlela has sought the support of the private sector to speed up verification of documents as verifications contribute to delays in the processing of visas.
END