Scalabrini Centre wants Home Affairs Cape Town office to accept new
applications by asylum seekers
On Thursday, the Department of Home Affairs was back in the Western
Cape High Court over the closure of the Cape Town Refugee Reception
Office (RRO).


The matter has been disputed in the courts since June 2012, when Home
Affairs first closed the office for new asylum applicants.


Cape Town is not the only city where refugee reception offices were
closed. Until 2011, there were six centres in the country: Cape Town,
Johannesburg, Pretoria, Port Elizabeth, Durban and Musina. Since then,
the offices in Johannesburg, Port Elizabeth and Cape Town have been
closed. Asylum seekers who came to Cape Town after June 2012 have had
to go to Durban, Musina or Pretoria to register, between 1,500 and
1,900km from Cape Town.


"I can`t think of any government services for South Africans that
would require someone living in Cape Town to go to Pretoria," says
Steven Budlender, counsel for the applicants, which included
Scalabrini Centre, the Somali Association of South Africa and several
asylum seekers.


"It is unthinkable that someone applying for social grants here or an
18-year-old from Khayelitsha who wanted to register to vote would be
told to go to Pretoria. What is it about refugee reception services
that makes this acceptable?"


Corey Johnson, an advocacy officer at Scalabrini, says he thinks Home
Affairs is trying to deter asylum seekers. "The closures are due to
DHA`s focus on reducing the number of asylum applications instead of
directing resources into how to improve their ability to receive
them," he said. "The general perception of asylum seekers by the
department is that they are not genuine and are abusing the asylum
system."


Home Affairs argues that "prior to having entered the country and
applying for asylum, those seeking refugee status, will not have
established themselves in any particular city and, as such, they have
no right or entitlement to apply for asylum in any particular
city."


In March 2015, the Supreme Court of Appeals ordered Home Affairs to
reopen the Port Elizabeth Refugee Reception Centre. Home Affairs has
until 1 July to comply.


In the Port Elizabeth judgment, the court noted: "The asylum
application process is invariably a protracted one. Timely access to
an RRO is thus critical not just for asylum seekers to legalise their
stay in this country, but also for the effective protection of

their
rights."


Applications for asylum require more than one visit. Once their
application has been lodged, asylum seekers must follow through at the
same office, returning for a refugee-status determination interview,
renewal of their asylum-seeker permit, the decision on their status
and for any appeals processes.


Johnson says the process can take a couple of years. "We`ve seen some
cases of people waiting 10 to 15 years."


The Cape Town office is still functioning but only with existing
applications from before June 2012. Last week, however, the High Court
ordered it to renew the permits of asylum applicants living in the
Western Cape even if they had originally applied at another
office.


Closure "irrational and unlawful"
In closing the office, the Director General provided reasons for the
closure. These included: the difficulty of maintaining a refugee
reception office in a metro area because of recurring litigation over
nuisance and zoning violations; the main Customs House office was not
suitable and another suitable location could not be found; the
majority of the applications lodged at the Cape Town office were
eventually rejected; for many of the applicants, Cape Town was not
their point of entry.


But Counsel for the applicants argued that in the first four months of
2012, before the office was closed, it was the second busiest in the
country.


The respondents, however, argued that the number of applicants has
reduced over the years from 222,300 in 2009 to 70,000 in 2013.


Decision unconstitutional
The closure of the office forced asylum seekers to take off three to
four days from work and fund expensive travel that also put them at
risk of detention and deportation every time they had to visit an
office.


The applicants included the example of Abdikadir Jele, a Somali asylum
seeker who visited the Cape Town RRO four times between the end of
2011 and June 2012 to register, but was told to come back another day.
He returned after June 2012 and was told he could no longer apply at
that office.


Jele has not registered because he does not have the means to travel
to Durban, Pretoria or Musina, let alone return there for further
proceedings. He said he barely makes enough to survive and depends on
the community in Cape Town. V.1651

One of the highlighted topics: Critical Skills Visa.

- Key Insight: Is your profession on the Critical Skills List? This visa is your fast track to working in South Afr...
- This matter relates to critical skills visa and its broader implications.
- Individuals are advised to seek professional guidance.

Is your profession on the Critical Skills List? This visa is your fast trac V.6139
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One of the applicants, Phindile Mazibuko, became a victim of identity theft in 2012 when fraudulent transactions occurred, using her personal details.

-The Pretoria High Court found that the department of home affairs had violated constitutional rights without due process.
-Only half of Lawyers for Human Rights` test group has been unblocked, while 385 000 identities remain blocked nationwide.
-LHR appeals extension, urges affected people to seek help now.

Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) are intensifying pressure on the department of home affairs over the national ID-blocking crisis, accusing the state of acting too slowly to unblock qualifying individuals despite a landmark court ruling.

In January last year, the Pretoria High Court found that the department`s practice of blocking IDs without due process was unlawful and unconstitutional. One of the applicants, Phindile Mazibuko, a Swati citizen and South African permanent resident since 1998, fell victim to identity theft in 2012 when fraudsters used her personal details.

 V.6133
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The Border Management Authority (BMA) has doubled its staff at Airports in South Africa , including immigration officers.

What does this mean for travelers? V.6128
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The Border Management Authority (BMA) has doubled its staff at Airports in South Africa , including immigration officers.

What does this mean for travelers? V.6129
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A Washington state mother and her 6-year-old son have been released after spending more than three weeks in US immigration detention due to a brief trip to Canada and a small paperwork mistake, her attorney told CNN on Saturday.

Sarah Shaw, a New Zealand citizen who has lived legally in the US since she arrived in 2021, was detained at the Blaine, Washington, Customs and Border Protection checkpoint when returning home after dropping her two oldest children off at the Vancouver airport for a flight to visit their grandparents in New Zealand. Shaw, 33, chose the flight out of Vancouver because it was direct and she didn`t want her children to have to navigate a layover alone, her attorney Minda Thorward, told CNN.

 V.6130
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On 22 July 2025, the Gauteng High Court dismissed Sitrusrand Boerdery`s review of the Department of Employment and Labour`s refusal to issue a Working Conditions and Salary Benchmarking Certificate, an essential precondition for obtaining corporate visas under the Immigration Act.

Acting Judge Kekana AJ held that the Department`s decision was lawful, rational and procedurally fair. This judgment illustrates how businesses can - and must - structure their corporate visa applications to meet statutory requirements, and how legal practitioners should prepare robust review challenges when administrative authorities decline to recommend foreign-work permits.

 V.6131
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The United States could forfeit an estimated 9.4 billion dollars in visitor spending over the next three years following the introduction of a new 250 dollars `visa integrity fee,` according to industry groups, who warn the policy risks undermining tourism and costing thousands of jobs.
The United States’ decision to introduce a 250 dollars `visa integrity fee` on international visitors has triggered sharp criticism from the global tourism industry, with officials warning that the measure could deter millions of travellers and cost the U.S. economy billions.
The 250dollar `visa integrity fee,` part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed on July 4, 2025, will take effect later this year. According to immigration law firm Envoy Global, it applies to all nonimmigrant visa holders which include students, tourists, temporary workers, and business visitors particularly from African countries. V.6132
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The Border Management Authority (BMA) has doubled its staff at Airports in South Africa , including immigration officers.

What does this mean for travelers? V.6127
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1. Right to Legal Representation•You have the right to consult with a legal representative.•Contact an immigration practitioner, legal aid clinic, or attorney urgently.•Do not sign any documents without understanding them fully. 2. Section 34 of the Immigration Act•You must be brought to court with 48 hours to confirm arrest but you can remain locked up very long as courts figure out what to do with you •If you`re found to be illegally in South Africa, you may be detained for up to 30 days (extendable by a magistrate) pending deportation.•BUT this cannot happen arbitrarily. You must be informed of your rights, and Home Affairs must follow due process.- becomes a nightmare , you could lose your job , business , place to stay V.6121
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Driving for Bolt, Uber, Mr D, or Checkers Sixty60?If you`re undocumented, you`re risking more than just your income.The Risks if You`re Not Legal: - Vehicle impoundment - Heavy fines - Arrest & deportation - Permanent bans from working in SA V.6122
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