`The services enabled by the legislation are not intended to
provide agencies with mass surveillance capabilities. Indeed, the
technical design of the system could not facilitate this ... as it
requires users to input a single still image at a time to conduct
a query,` Acting First Assistant Secretary at Home Affairs`
Identity and Biometrics Division Andrew Rice told the committee on
Friday, ahead of the departmental leadership change.
`It can`t be connected directly to a live CCTV feed. Even if the
agencies attempted to circumvent this by conducting multiple
queries in close succession, the way the service operates makes it
implausible that agencies could do this to support real-time
identification of multiple individuals within a crowd, for
example.`
The comments were made following an appearance in front of the
same committee earlier that day by Human Rights Law Centre
executive director Hugh de Kretser, who raised concerns over the
ability of agencies to have real-time surveillance of crowds of
people `going about their business, going about their daily lives,
and scan faces to merge contemporaneously or almost
contemporaneously with a database of images`.
The committee was specifically reviewing the Identity-matching
Services Bill 2018 and the Australian Passports Amendment
(Identity-matching Services) Bill 2018, which were introduced by
the Australian government in February to allow for the creation of
a system to match photos against identities of citizens stored in
various federal and state agencies.
The Australia-wide identity-matching initiative will allow state
and territory law-enforcement agencies to have access to the
country`s new face-matching services to access passport, visa,
citizenship, and driver licence images from other jurisdictions.
The Face Verification Service (FVS) is a one-to-one image-based
verification service that will match a person`s photo against an
image on one of their government records; while the Face
Identification Service (FIS) is a one-to-many, image-based
identification service that can match a photo of an unknown person
against multiple government records to help establish their
identity.
`Face identification service users will receive a gallery of
possible matches in response to each query they submit. The system
does not provide a single confirmed match. It is then up to users
with appropriate facial-recognition training to consider the
gallery of possible matches returned by the system and select a
short

list for further investigation,` Rice explained on Friday.
`Only at that point does the agency receive biographic information
about the short-listed candidates -- the final identity solution
decision still needs to be made by the user agency.`
He said the system has been specifically designed in such a way as
to ensure there is always a person in the loop in FIS
transactions.
`The system is designed not to rely solely on the technology for
identity resolution decisions,` he continued.
`We need to make sure -- and this is what we`re doing with the
jurisdictions and with agencies that will be prescribed under the
Bill -- to put in place a training regime to make sure that the
officers who access the service have got the right skills,
encouraging agencies ... to think about the face identification
service as being a specialist capability that a small group of
people do and do all the time. That`s what happens in our
department at the moment. The face resolution staff are a small
team, and that`s all they do. It`s about putting in the range of
controls to deal with the fact that, because of the very nature of
biometrics, there will be some probabilistic anomalies that have
to be sorted out.`
Facing the same committee in May, Rice said the department had
purchased a facial recognition algorithm from a vendor to be used
for the FIS, however Home Affairs received immunity from
disclosing who the contract was awarded to, citing mostly security
concerns.
`The FIS enlivens significantly a threat to assumed identities, so
that`s security and law enforcement covert operatives and
witnesses under protection, so we received an exemption under the
Commonwealth procurement rules to not publish the identity, the
name of the vendor that`s providing the facial recognition
service,` Rice said at the time.
`It`s just reducing the potential vectors of attack.`
Rice told the joint committee that as all of the vendors providing
biometric or facial recognition services use different algorithms,
naming the vendor employed would potentially increase the threat
of attack.
On Friday, he held firm on the department`s position, saying
knowing which vendor it is gives the potential for some kind of
intrusion against that company in order to gain access to
information relating to the algorithm. V.2763

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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