Heavy hand on visa laws

Source: Times Live, 10/03/2016

Heavy hand on visa laws
09 March, 2016 – Times Live

The proposed law's proponents argue that fines are not a sufficient
deterrent to foreigners who overstay their visas.
Foreigners who stay longer in South Africa than their visa allows face
much harsher sanctions under a new immigration law, which lawyers say
is punitive and unconstitutional.
The current law fines foreigners who outstay their visas.
An amendment to the Immigration Act was gazetted in December and is
due to be fast-tracked to become law. It now proposes that a person
who overstays their visit to the country, even by one day, cannot get
a visa to re-enter South Africa and cannot apply for a residence
permit to live here.
They could also be banned for up to five years and appealing any
decision or explaining what led to the transgression can take up to 18
months.
This sanction applies to first-time offenders as well.
The proposed law's proponents argue that fines are not a sufficient
deterrent to foreigners who overstay their visas.
Leon Isaacson, managing director of Global Migration SA, said the
proposed law was not flexible and did not allow people who overstayed
due to an emergency, illness, or by accident to be treated differently
to visitors who stayed too long on purpose.
He said last month some Americans could not return home due to heavy
snow in the US that led to a cancellation of flights for four days.
This meant the Americans remained for four days longer than intended
and overstayed their visas.
Isaacson said the lack of flexibility in the law was unconstitutional
as it did not allow for a fair administration of justice, which is a
constitutional right.
"While there may be understandable reasons for wanting to tighten up
on abuses, clearly the measures have been excessive," Isaacson said.
He said one of the contributing factors to people overstaying their
visits to South Africa has been the uncertainty surrounding new visa
requirements and the inordinately long time taken for the visa
application process, which can take eight to 12 months to obtain a
response.
The Department of Home Affairs did not respond to queries.