The Covid-19 pandemic and provisions of the Disaster Management Act have reduced already-slow Home Affairs processes to a crawl â€` impacting thousands of people and creating a backlog that could take years to clear.
The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic is set to further delay and derail Home Affairs processes, with potentially tens of thousands of people negatively impacted as a result.
While the Department of Home Affairs was mandated to limit services at the onset of the State of Disaster in March last year; the Department has been slow and inconsistent in resuming services.
Currently, only visa related services are being rendered, with no permanent residence or citizenship-related services being permitted.
After initially issuing badly drafted and confusing directives, the Department confirmed in March this year that it had extended the validity of short term visas to the end of June this year, and the validity of long term visas to the end of July, which allowed breathing room for those whose visas expired during the national state of disaster.
However, the scene is being set for a massive backlog at the end of June and July, when thousands of people must submit applications for renewal at a time when Home Affairs processes appear to be slower and more inconsistent than ever before.
Slow and inconsistent processes challenge foreigners
Despite officially not currently processing permanent resident and citizenship-related applications; Home Affairs is in fact processing some permanent residence applications, but with startling inconsistency, and is rejecting more than it approves.
Applicants are not able however to appeal these negative outcomes since the Department is not meant to be rendering these services, which is also going to create a massive backlog once they resume doing so.
It should be noted that the Preamble to the Act provides, amongst other things, that visas and permanent residence permits are to be issued expeditiously and on the basis of simplified procedures and objectives without consuming excessive administrative capacity.
The Department is not fulfilling its obligations in this regard: random rejections are set to create huge administrative burdens for an already severely understaffed department.
Our office is seeing many visa and permit applications rejected for reasons that should not apply. In the case of temporary visa applications, where it was once very rare for an application to be pending for more than three months, we now have a backlog of approximately five months, while the Department states it is currently not dealing with citizenship services, determination of status applications or anything related to them â€` even enquiries.
This raises questions about how a backlog can be possible when the Department offers fewer services than it did before the pandemic.
In addition, the lack of focus on permanent residence raises concerns that efforts may still be ongoing to remove permanent residency as a status category and eliminate the

possibility of becoming a citizen by naturalisation, as regulated in the South African Citizenship Amendment Act.
There are signs based on the Minister’s White Paper in 2017, and a revised immigration bill currently being drafted, that categories of visas and permits currently in existence may be on their way out, placing holders of these visas and permits in a precarious position.
We are also seeing a growing number of rejections of critical skills visa applications, freelance work applications by foreign spouses of South Africans, and work authorisations for foreigners with a retired persons visa.
These rejections, often for nonsensical reasons â€` for example, Department staff stating that they could not get hold of an applicant’s employer â€` strip people of their right to work. Because appeals take so long to process, many applicants risk losing their jobs, adding to the unemployment problem at a time when the government should be accelerating the labour market and helping grow the economy.
This situation will result in a flood of applications and appeals when the Department resumes full service again.
Hope for South Africans
However, while challenges remain for foreign-born people seeking to live and work in South Africa; there is a glimmer of hope for South African-born people hoping to work abroad and remain South African citizens.
Currently, South Africans are frequently stripped of their South African citizenship without warning if they apply for citizenship of another country.
A recent court case launched by the Democratic Alliance challenges this, arguing that section 6(1)(a) of the Citizenship Act 88 of 1995 is inconsistent with the Constitution because certain clauses of the act deprive citizens who have assumed foreign citizenship of their right to vote, hold a South African passport and retain citizenship.
The Minister of the Department of Home Affairs countered that South Africans could retain their South African citizenship â€` and thus have dual citizenship â€` if they complied with the steps laid out in the Act.
The Act states that individuals will automatically lose their citizenship unless they apply for a letter of retention to keep their South African citizenship, and specifically excludes dual citizenship by minors and/or by marriage.
As South Africans confronted by job losses and a difficult economic environment increasingly look to other countries for opportunities, they should be able to retain their citizenship while abroad â€` if they follow the processes.
For those who were summarily stripped of citizenship, there is a hope that while judgement in this case was reserved, if the Democratic Alliance should win, they could be permitted to reclaim their citizenship in future.
www.samigration.com V.3638

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.

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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.

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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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