• theory, South Africa welcomes foreigners worth at least R12 million who want to settle locally.
• A couple in their seventies from Singapore â€` worth R49 million â€` found it a little hard to take advantage of that welcome.
• First National Bank said, incorrectly, that they had submitted a fraudulent account statement.
• Even after that mistake was corrected, the department of home affairs refused to grant them residency, up to fighting them in court.
• The DHA has now been ordered to issue their permits, and cover their legal costs.
A wealthy couple from Singapore should finally receive permanent residency in South Africa towards the end of this month, after a three-and-a-half-year fight to take advantage of immigration provisions designed to attract wealthy people and their money.
And the department of home affairs (DHA) will have to settle their legal bill.
On Friday, the Western Cape High Court gave the director-general of home affairs and its minister 20 days to issue residence permits to Yew Teck Ling and See Hie Chua, a married couple of Singaporean nationals in their early 70s.
They have a net worth of at least R49 million, well above the threshold of R12 million used in South Africa to determine if people are rich enough for special treatment.
But that made no difference when things went horribly wrong after they submitted their application for permanent residency in January 2019.
The couple submitted nine statements from three different banks, to show how much cash they had. As would emerge later, the DHA took almost exactly two years to ask one of those banks, First National Bank, to verify some of those statements. FNB`s specialist bank statement verification unit immediately came back with an answer: at least one statement `appears to be fraudulent as the transactions reflected thereon does [sic] not correspond with the transactions on the Bank`s systems.`
It took another eight months, to September 2021, for DHA to convey that news to the couple, telling them that their attempt at fraud makes them people `not of good and sound character`, and so not welcome in South Africa.
DHA did not tell them which bank statement had been deemed a fake, not when they asked in October, not when they asked in November, and not when they asked in

December.
Only this year, in the face of legal action, did their lawyers first obtain the record of the decision, and then an admission that crying fraud had been `an error`.
Armed with that, their lawyers went back to home affairs in May, to suggest that it stop fighting their court application for their permits.
DHA refused. The couple, it said, had now overstayed their previous permits. They would first have to fill out the correct forms to explain why they had not renewed their temporary visas. Having so sought to legalise their stay, they could either apply for permanent residency again from scratch, or could try for an appeal against the previous decision, having first asked for condonation for filing that appeal late.
Either way, they would not get `the opportunity to submit the correct and verified bank statements with proof thereof.`
This, the DHA`s lawyers told their lawyers, would be a `practical and pragmatic solution going forward.`
In fact, there was absolutely no other way to deal with the case, home affairs director general Livhuwani Makhode told the court. His decision to deny the application had been correct, he said; the fact that he had done so based on a mistake by someone else made his call neither wrong nor unreasonable.
And now, Makhode said, it was utterly impossible to reconsider the matter. As the file on the application had been closed, any further action on it â€` such as correcting FNB`s mistake â€` would undermine departmental procedure from which there can be no deviation.
He did not say how exactly the couple could reapply in the face of an uncorrected finding that they had committed fraud, nor how long their new application might take.
But considering South Africa`s approach to attracting rich foreigners â€` at least in theory â€` there is no reason to put the couple through the uncertainty of another application, ruled judge Judith Cloete. Instead, DHA should simply issue their permits.
And, so as to not `make a mockery of their duty to be accountable`, the home affairs DG and minister can pay their legal costs too, in their official capacities.
www.samigration.com V.4447

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.

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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.

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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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