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SA Migration Newsletter
06 / 2023 |
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 SA Migration
International was created out of the need for a
specialist organization to assist people wishing to immigrate,
volunteer, work, bring family, study or open businesses in South
Africa.
Spain is providing €2.1 billion (R42 billion) to help fund South Africa`s energy transition and water needs, even as some of the world`s richest nations struggle to push forward on a ground-breaking climate-finance initiative with the country.
The Spanish funding is being provided through a mixture of financial instruments, with the country`s government working with its development finance institution, Cofides, and South Africa`s Industrial Development Corporation, said Ambassador Raimundo Robredo Rubio.
The Department of Home Affairs says it has started laying the groundwork for new visa types to be introduced in South Africa, in a bid to draw in skilled workers.
The department has published its 2023/24 annual performance plan, which includes its intentions and targets for the current financial year.
In the plan, Home Affairs minister Aaron Motsoaledi said that the department is currently exploring new visa categories, including start-up visas and remote working visas.
Home Affairs’ cyber systems are vulnerable to hacking and frontline officers are not properly trained, according to a damning internal report that says chronic underfunding has undermined the department’s ability to keep Australia safe.
The leaked confidential review into the mega department responsible for national security, cyber defence and foreign interference among other areas revealed the department lost 600 employees in a year and more than $2 billion in cost-cutting has stopped it from hiring enough staff.
The probe into the agency’s budget, conducted by consulting and legal firm Proximity between December 2021 and February 2022, interviewed dozens of top brass including the agency’s secretary Mike Pezullo, who has run the department since its inception.
SA has significant deficits in areas like technical skills.
A major overhaul of South Africa`s visa regime is needed, and during his upcoming investment conference, President Cyril Ramaphosa should address the issue, according to Business Leadership SA (BLSA).
`The president could use the opportunity to announce a credible intervention to fix the visa mess. That would go far to addressing one of the major sources of a lack of confidence in South Africa`s investment case,` the BLSA says in its latest newsletter.
Business has identified three clear priority areas and initiatives to get things off the ground. These areas are energy, railways, ports, roads and corruption and crime.
Adrian Gore writes that he has a deep belief in the potential of our country and it is clear to him that this is not a time for pessimism, despair and inaction. He argues that, on the contrary, we are in desperate need of optimism, hope and action.
Right now, times are tough for every South African. Every person I speak to is concerned and despairing; there is a deep sense of futility.
The Department of Home Affairs has yet again issued a last-minute reprieve, extending a blanket concession for long-term visa or waiver applicants awaiting decisions on their applications.
The holders of the long-term visas can now legally remain in South Africa until 31 December 2023, although the lateness of the decision 48-hours before these visa holders technically expire has drawn sharp criticism.
The directive was issued this morning to the Home Affairs head office and the Department of International Relations and Cooperation’s Consular Services and Visa Facilitation Centres (VFS) to communicate this decision.
The United States and Canada have reportedly reached an agreement that will allow border officials to turn back asylum seekers heading north across their shared border without considering their petitions for sanctuary, sparking outcry from immigrant groups.
US and Canadian media outlets reported the tentative agreement on Thursday, as US President Joe Biden visits the Canadian capital of Ottawa for his first official visit to the country since taking office in early 2021.
The Ministry of Home Affairs, Immigration, Safety and Security has made further progress in improving service delivery when it launched online applications for passports and short-term employment permits yesterday.
Over the past few years, the ministry has introduced e-passports in 2018, visa-on-arrival, the inauguration of the state-of-the-art headquarters and the national migration policy. Less than a month ago, the usage of ID-cards as travel documents between Namibia and Botswana was added.
Minister Albert Kawana announced that the ministry will continue to expand its digital services, including online visa applications for tourists, by the end of the year to keep up with the fast-growing digital world as well as attract more tourists to the country. SA
Migration International
Tel.: +27 (0)71 632 9555 Fax: +27 (0)21 461 2611 Email: info@sami.co.za |
SA
Migration
Tel.: +27 (0)71 632 9555 Fax: +27 (0)21 461 2611 Email: info@sami.co.za
Table of Contents
1. About SA Migration
2. Spain to invest R42bn in South Africa`s energy transition, water projects 3. New visas planned for South Africa 4. Home Affairs underfunded, overstretched and ‘set up to fail’, says leaked report 5. Ramaphosa must urgently solve visa mess, says BLSA 6. Adrian Gore, My view on SA remains unchanged: We need action, not despair 7. Home Affairs’ last-minute move extends concession for 56,000 foreign residents until end of the year 8. Canada to roll back asylum access in reported agreement with US 9. Home affairs embraces e-governance…online passports, work visa applications launched
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(click on pic for your study info)  Knysna Lagoon 
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