The Immigration Act and the Department of Home Affairs abhors fraudulent documents. Section 29(1)(f) provides ; The following foreigners are prohibited person and do not qualify for a port of entry visa, admission into the republic , visa or a permanent residence permit … anyone found in possession of a fraudulent visa, passport , permanent residence permit or identification document. Section 49(14) and 49(15) makes the use or attempted use of or uttering of any fraudulent document for the purpose of entering remaining in or departing from and residing in the republic a criminal offence, of which a person on conviction is liable to imprisonment of up to 15 years. So when one finds him of herself in possession of a fraudulent document how does one comeback from this immigration abyss?
There are two paths to rehabilitating yourself when you have been rendered a prohibited person for using or attempting to use or uttering a fraudulent visa, permit or Identity document. Section 29(2) makes provision for the Director General on good cause declare that person is no longer a prohibited person. This is done by way of submitting an application to Director General setting forth good cause why the person should be removed from the prohibited persons list.
Another avenue is in terms of section 32 of the Immigration Act and Regulation 30. Section 32 is an appropriate route in the event that the person is still in the country and looking to apply for a new visa. Regulation 30 provides 3 tests, that a person is an illegal foreigner, who has neither been arrested for the purpose of deportation nor been ordered to leave and who wishes to apply for a status after the expiry of his or her status.
Section 32 is applicable because by virtue of being in possession of a fraudulent permit or visa and have not been arrested ordered to leave then you meet the criteria under section 32.
The next criteria is that the person

would need to show good cause why you failed to renew your previous visa. This would include the circumstances that led to you being in possession of fraudulent document. Often people are victims of an elaborate immigration scam and their permits would have worked for few times and so would be unaware of the fraudulent nature of their status until it is brought to their attention. They are as much victims of the fraud as is the state. It is important to be able to prove definitively that a third party was at play and in our experience, this works to the persons advantage.
The last criteria would be proof that the person is eligible for the visa that they intend to apply for. This is submitted in the form of all the required documents for the respective visa.
It is important to highlight that immigration issues of this kind do not go away with time. The Department will always discover that a person’s status is fraudulent or obtained in a fraudulent manner. So tackling these head on will be the best approach to any similar situation. The effect of coming forward to attempt to regularise your status is better than not doing anything. Any good faith effort to rehabilitate your status will certainly mitigate risks of being criminally convicted and will count as a positive in an application to remove the prohibited person status. It is also accepted that not every case can be rehabilitated.
For assistance with your immigration matter you can contact us at our offices and speak to one of our specialists.
Sa Migration International
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www.samigration.com V.3526

There are fears that more people will be separated by the introduction of a minimum salary level for those wanting UK family visas. Families living in the UK and abroad have raised concerns about what new rules will mean for them as they try to reunite with foreign spouses. In December, the Home Office, which says migration to the UK is too high, announced a package of measures to reduce net migration, following a spike in arrival numbers. V.5318
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An Ethiopian asylum seeker, who does not speak English, claims he was duped by a senior immigration official into paying an admission of guilt fine when he thought he was paying for bail.Two Western Cape High Court judges have condemned the official`s `deplorable` behaviour, set aside the fine, and ordered the immigration official be taken off the case. Tsegaye Esyas claims Annelise van Dyk treated him like an animal which led to him attempt suicide while in police cells. V.5320
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EREMY MAGGS: I want to stay with crime now. Individuals with a criminal record may be faced with significant challenges when seeking employment, I think that’s a given. Here in South Africa, employers may legally exclude an applicant from consideration for a position if having a clean criminal record is what is termed an inherent requirement of the job. That phrase, inherent requirement, is important, but what exactly does that mean, and when can an applicant be lawfully excluded for having a criminal record? V.5321
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As a South African who has adopted a nomadic work lifestyle alongside my wife, Ingrid Lotze, I’ve been an interested observer of South Africa’s snail-pace digital nomad visa (DNV) development process. Despite the optimism surrounding its introduction, the visa seems to miss several crucial marks for digital nomads like us. V.5322
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DA MP says hours lost continue to result in persons being unable to collect their ID documents due to unmanageable queues The DA has been inundated with complaints that the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) systems are offline, resulting in long queues and delayed processing of documents. Through questions posed to the Minister, the DA can now reveal that the DHA has lost over 77 years’ worth of working hours due to system downtime and load-shedding from 2019 to date. Concerningly, this data only relates to hours lost for the application of smart IDs, meaning decades more of working hours could have been additionally lost in other spheres such as passport or visa applications. V.5314
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Home Affairs’ seemingly endless court battles set the department back more than R110-million between April 2023 and the end of February this year. This was revealed in a written parliamentary response by minister Aaron Motsoaledi. He said the department accumulated a litigation bill of R117 692 996.3, higher than the R72 637 944.51 spent the year before. V.5315
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Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) this week revealed that Cape Town International Airport (CTIA) has achieved a ground-breaking milestone by processing more than 10 million passengers over a single financial year. This is the highest number of regional and international passengers processed since COVID-19 V.5316
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In recent years, South Africa has seen a significant influx of immigrants from various African countries, as well as other parts of the world. This has raised important questions about the country`s immigration policies and their impact on job creation for both locals and immigrants. The South African immigration system, like many other countries, is a complex and ever-evolving process that aims to balance the country`s economic needs with its social and cultural interests. Let`s take a closer look at how this system intersects with job creation in South Africa. The South African government implemented the Immigration Act of 2002, which outlines the country`s immigration policies and procedures. Under this act, foreigners are required to obtain a visa or permit to enter, work, or study in South Africa. The type of visa or permit required depends on the intended purpose of the individual`s visit and their country of origin. V.5312
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Due to system downtime and load-shedding, the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) lost nearly 141,000 hours of Smart ID application and production time between the 2019/20 and 2022/23 financial years. Minister Aaron Motsoaledi revealed this figure in a recent response to questions raised in Parliament by Democratic Alliance MP Adrian Roos. Motsoaledi provided a breakdown of smart ID production and application hours lost to technical difficulties and load-shedding per province for each financial year from 2019/2020. These disruptions hit home Affairs offices in the Eastern Cape the hardest, with over 34,000 hours to rotational power cuts and system downtime. Mpumalanga offices lost the next-highest number of hours at 17 V.5313
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Home Affairs Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi has said the public has shown great support for the final White Paper on citizenship, immigration and refugee protection which appeared in the Government Gazette on Wednesday. Briefing the media, he addressed what he saw as a long-overdue need to replace an outdated Citizenship Act, as well as enact proposed changes to existing legislation. V.5306
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