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Deadline approaching for Lesotho nationals in SA: Here's how to legalise your stay

Source: Traveller24, 16/09/2016

Cape Town - The Kingdom of Lesotho and South Africa's Department of
Home Affairs has issued an alert to all Lesotho nationals saying
September is the last month to apply for the Lesotho Special Permits
(LSPs).

This means that Lesotho nationals who work, study or do business in
South Africa unlawfully have only 14 days left until 30 September 2016
to regularise their stay in South Africa.

While visiting Basotho in Rustenburg last week, the South African
Minister of Home Affairs, Malusi Gigaba, urged Lesotho nationals to
use the next few weeks to apply for their LSPs.

Applicants for the special permit must fulfil the following
requirements to qualify for the LSP:
Be registered on the National Population Register (NPR) system of
Lesotho and a have a Lesotho ID card.

Have a valid passport or travel document with a unique Lesotho
identity (ID) number.

Ensure that the passport is valid for a period of more than four
years. If the validity period of the passport or the travel document
is less than four years, the holder will bear the cost of the
replacement of both the passport and the LSP into the new
passport.

Lesotho nationals who are in South Africa for less than 12 months need
to have a police clearance certificate from Lesotho that is not more
than six months old.

Applicants DO NOT need to apply for a South African police clearance
certificate. The DHA in South Africa will obtain the South African
Police Service clearance on behalf of all LSP applicants.

Applicants should also provide proof of employment or an affidavit
from their employer in order to be issued with an LSP work permit.

For registration with an educational institution, all supporting
documents or letters from an employer, school or business must show
that the applicant has been residing in South Africa since before 30
September 2015.

NOTE: Those applicants who may have fraudulently obtained South
African documents need to surrender them to the designated DHA office,
and obtain an amnesty letter. This amnesty is until 31 December
2016.

Minister Gigaba also announced a new special provision that allows
Basotho to apply for the LSP, through the VFS Global-operated
application centres, without passports. Such applicants will have
until the end of December 2016 to present their valid passports.

To this end, the Lesotho Government has deployed staff at various
centres to facilitate birth certificates and ID card enrollment. Once
they get their IDs, Basotho nationals can then visit one of the 11 LSP
Application Centres in South Africa to get the assistance they need to
validate their residency in South Africa. LSP Form Filling Desks are
also being rolled out in key areas with high density of Lesotho
nationals.

The stations are situated in the following places:
Port Elizabeth - Department of Home Affairs Office, Govan Mbeki Ave &
Bagshaw Street
Sterkspruit - Department of Home Affairs Office
Bloemfontein - Lesotho Special Permit Facilitation Centre, 48 Glen
Road, Hilton
Welkom - Lesotho Consulate, Room 201 Floor 2 Elizabeth House,
Elizabeth Street, City Centre, Welkom
Klerksdorp - Lesotho Consulate, 20 Neser Street, Klerksdorp
Gauteng - Lesotho Consulate, 222 Smit Street
Pretoria - Lesotho High Commission, 391 Anderson Street, Menlo Park,
0007 Arcadia
Durban - Lesotho Consulate, 301 Westguard House, Corner West and
Gardiner Streets
The DHA has dedicated LSP application centres through its partnership
with VFS Global in various places. If you have a valid ID or passport,
you can get your LSP here in Polokwane, Rustenburg, Nelspruit, Port
Elizabeth, Bloemfontein, Durban, Kimberley, Cape Town, George,
Midrand and Bedfordview.

To date, South Africa's Department of Home Affairs has only received
some 72 106 online applications for the LSP from an estimated
population of 400 000 Basotho in South Africa, LSP says.
Of these, 46 756 applicants had made the necessary payment and booked
appointments in order to complete the process. A total of 42 553
applications has gone through the entire process.
The initial cut-off time for Lesotho nationals to legalise their stays
in SA was 30 June 2016. The Department of Home Affairs, however,
announced a three-month extension following a request by the Lesotho
authorities to extend the closing date for applications to allow more
time for Basotho nationals to apply.
The LSP is a joint project between the South African and Lesotho
governments and aims to legalise Lesotho nationals in South Africa.
The LSP will benefit and protect Basotho living in South Africa from
exploitation, arrests and deportation.

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