But their plight isn’t a new one.
Foreign-trained doctors who spoke to City Press last week say
they’ve long decried the arduous process of registration with the
medical profession regulator.
It’s taken one doctor almost two years to have her application
processed and, even now, she’s still a long way from legally and
fully practising in local hospitals.
Numerous reports have previously detailed not only the foreign
doctors’ difficulties in registering with the HPCSA, but those of
doctors who were born in South Africa, but trained abroad.
In May, the matter reached the courts in an effort to order the
HPCSA to allow 38 of these doctors to write and pass the board
exam, which would qualify them for internships at local hospitals.
What’s made the medics’ plight more urgent has been watching the
toll the pandemic is taking on those hospitals, many of which are
short-staffed and have increasing numbers of Covid-19 patients
filling their wards each day.
City Press understands that many foreign-trained doctors volunteer
at hospitals and work free of charge, pending the completion of
their registration applications, to keep their skills sharp and
gain workplace experience
However, the arrival of 187 Cuban medical specialists brought in
for their primary healthcare expertise â€` at a hefty price tag of
R239 million â€` to help the local response to the virus has
embittered the other foreign-trained doctors, as the Cubans’
registration process took just three to 10 days on average,
effectively bypassing all the red tape others have to negotiate.
This has been explained to be as a result of the bilateral ties
between South Africa and Cuba, dating back to the early 1990s.
According to the HPCSA, there are currently 306 foreign-trained
doctors who’ve applied for registration, but need to write the
board exam before they get it.
Meanwhile, these medics are doing all they can to help combat the
infection crisis, by whatever means.
City Press understands that many foreign-trained doctors volunteer
at hospitals and work free of charge, pending the completion of
their registration applications, to keep their skills sharp and
gain workplace experience.
One doctor living in Johannesburg who’s applied for HPCSA
registration says: “I started the process of registering with the
HPCSA in 2018, after having graduated and qualified in Germany and
worked at three university hospitals there.
`It’s been a very expensive and bumpy road trying to register here
â€` I’ve easily spent €4 000 [R70 000] having all my documents
including qualifications, affidavits and certificates of good
standing translated and vetted via Epic [a global translation
company] and sent to the HPCSA. Many doctors get frustrated and
simply give up because it’s such a challenging process.”
Currently, the HPCSA requires doctors with foreign qualifications
to use the US-based Educational Commission for Foreign Medical
Graduates’ Electronic Portfolio of International Credentials
Services to have their medical credentials verified.
The agency uploads their documents, which are then cross-confirmed
by the graduating university and the feedback is given to the
HPCSA.
“All documents need to be translated and uploaded to that
platform, which is quite expensive â€` about $80 to $100 [R1 330 to
R1 600] per document.
`They send an email to your university. The university then
contacts you and also wants money to verify that it’s really you.
They send their feedback to Epic and then a report is sent to the
HPCSA. You pay for that report too.
`The process usually takes one year to 18 months. That’s how long
it took me,” says the doctor.
“There are many documents that are wanted and what’s frustrating
is that some of them are only valid for about three months. By the
time you get all of them together, you’ll find some are no

longer
valid. I think I had to renew my certificate of good standing
three times â€` and each time it cost me R2 000.”
In an article in the May edition of the SA Medical Journal by
Jehane Michael le Grange, Sean James Dickenson and Jacques Robert
Jeppe Davis (all of whom are international medical graduates
themselves), the results were published of an online survey that
yielded 644 responses showing that there were 458 foreign-trained
doctors in the country.
These doctors are either unemployed or working in non-medical
roles â€` and almost all of them are keen to help overburdened,
exhausted hospital staff cope during the Covid-19 outbreak.
But it’s not that simple.
City Press understands that at least 120 foreign-trained doctors
wrote the first round of board exams for this year in January.
According to HPCSA spokesperson Priscilla Sekhonyana, of the 120
candidates, only 74 passed.
“Subsequent board exams were suspended because of Covid-19, as the
HPCSA couldn’t guarantee that candidates wouldn’t be exposed to
risk of infection. However, the board is currently exploring the
safest way possible to hold exams during the pandemic and
lockdown,” she says.
While other countries such as the UK reportedly provided temporary
registration to 11 800 doctors in March to improve its capacity
for the Covid-19 response, and the US’s Harvard University also
contemplated the early graduation of medical students to add to
the health worker force, the SA Medical Association’s chairperson,
Dr Angelique Coetzee, says South Africa currently has no plans for
such concessions, despite the surge in infections,
hospitalisations and deaths in several provinces.
She explains that the problem isn’t just bureaucratic or
logistical, but ethical.
The professionals who spoke to City Press said they wanted to draw
attention to the issue of registration and the processes required
â€` particularly during the present surge of Covid-19 cases in the
country
“South Africa hasn’t changed any regulations for Covid-19, or
lifted moratoriums in terms of registration processes. The problem
is that many of these people aren’t truthful and say they’re
qualified when they aren’t, so they need to follow the guidelines
for registering,” she says.
Sekhonyana adds that, while she didn’t know the exact costs
prospective foreign-trained doctors incurred during the
application and registration process, she acknowledged that these
might indeed be high.
“However, it’s necessary to ensure that practitioners who are
finally registered are competent to serve South Africans
effectively and safely. The HPCSA has a legislative duty to
protect the public and no cost is too high to ensure proper
verification,” she says.
Regarding the Cuban specialists, Sekhonyana confirms that these
doctors were registered on the basis of the two governments’
agreement, which was based on earlier assessments that found Cuban
medical training to be equivalent to that offered by South African
universities.
The professionals who spoke to City Press last week said they
wanted to draw attention to the issue of registration and the
processes required â€` particularly during the present surge of
Covid-19 cases in the country.
The doctor who qualified in Germany said: “We always knew we’d
have to undergo a process for registration, but now â€` during the
pandemic â€` they’re still not allowing doctors in South Africa to
help and contribute. Yet we hear the president saying that the
country’s short of medical professionals.” V.3099

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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