City Home Affairs closure slammed

Source: Cape Times, 18/10/2016

IMMIGRATION lobby groups have slammed the Home Affairs
Department-contracted Global VFS for poor planning in not being able
to cater for the "high volume" of visa applicants in the city.


This comes after an office meant to process visas for foreign
nationals in Adderley Street shut down because the landlord, Rennie
Properties, had "run foul" of the tenant, Global VFS, due to safety

concerns.


The closure has led to hundreds of applicants being turned away when
they came to submit and collect their documentation.


The VFS Cape Town office served about 300 applicants daily and the
landlord had no problem with that number. That changed when Lesotho
citizens were able to apply for the Home Affairs Department`s Lesotho
Special Permit (LSP).


The number of people seeking to enter the premises sharply increased
to about 
1 000 daily, prompting the landlord to close the
office.


Forum for Immigration Practitioners South Africa (FIPSA) provincial
chairperson Rod Maxwell said the closure will have far-reaching
consequences as applicants whose visas expired yesterday will become
illegal.


Maxwell said the problem arose because applicants came to the offices
in large numbers, blocking entrances, restaurants and shops situated
nearby.


"Indeed our clients are unhappy because due to the closure some
applicants have now become illegal, with devastating consequences on
their lives," said Maxwell.


He said applicants had to travel vast distances to visit the offices
and these were the unintended costs of people not being aware of the
closure.


"It is typical of the department and its partners that they knew about
the problem some time ago and failed to plan," he said.


Visa applicant and Malawian national Loyd Njila was disappointed he
had to travel from Worcester, only to be told the offices were
closed.


VFS Africa Operations chief operating officer (COO) Jiten Vyas said:
"Due to high numbers of visitors to our offices, building management
raised concerns of crowd management.


"He said they were negotiating with the building`s management to find
a viable and safe solution for visitors and the other tenants of the
building.


"We regret the inconvenience and have taken the 
following mitigation
steps to ensure business continuity."


He said from today applications can be submitted at 
47 Strand
Street.


According to the International Academic Programme Office, which
oversees migration between countries, there are currently 1.2 million
Lesotho citizens on South Africa`s National Population Register
(NPR).


IAPO says there are more than 400 000 people from Lesotho living in
South Africa without either valid residence or work permits (visas),
making their stay in the country both unofficial and unlawful.


The LSP will rectify this and allow Lesotho nationals to access
economic opportunities lawfully. To ensure smooth facilitation, the
South African government has granted a moratorium on deportations
until December 31, 2016.