Home affairs reduces permit application backlog by 30% since April

Home affairs minister Leon Schreiber is committed to making his department “a powerful engine of economic growth”, and has  taken urgent action to reduce the backlog of permit applications. 

On Monday, he stressed the importance of clearing the backlog to unlock scarce skills and grow tourism to create jobs. 

A dedicated team was set up in April to reduce the backlog, resulting in significant progress, with the backlog of 306,042 applications having been reduced by 92,886 — a reduction of 30%. Auditing firm Deloitte, as well as First National Bank, will provide additional resources for the visa backlog team.

“I have asked to be provided with daily reports on the state of the backlog until it is eradicated,” Schreiber said in his budget vote speech to a mini-plenary of the National Assembly.

“Clearing this backlog is the only way to avoid another extension of the concession on visas, waivers and appeals that has already been granted three times. This is an abnormal situation, and we must get this problem under control so that extensions are no longer necessary,” he said. 

Long queues outside home affairs office and system downtime would also be addressed.

Schreiber said his department would accelerate the implementation of the reforms of Operation Vulindlela, the unit in the presidency tasked with implementing structural reforms. 

“Alongside steps that have already been taken, such as the streamlining of required documents and the introduction of the trusted employer scheme, we will do much more. This includes finalisation of the points-based system for work visas, rolling out the remote working and start-up visas, updating the critical skills list more regularly, and making it easier for more tourists to visit our beautiful country and spend their valuable foreign currency right here in SA.” 

Schreiber referred to Operation Vulindlela’s 2022 review of the work visa process in SA, which noted that there was a 1.25% increase in employment for every 1% increase in skilled, legal immigration. He said the Treasury had also found that increasing the availability of scarce skills in the labour market was the second-most powerful step that could be taken to grow the economy and create jobs — just behind the eradication of load-shedding. 

He announced that the Immigration Advisory Board would be reactivated as a matter of urgency as a way for stakeholders to engage with the department on an ongoing basis about problems affecting the sector. The board would provide him with advice on tackling critical matters, such as the court-ordered process of consultation on the future of the Zimbabwean exemption permit. 

Court cases

“The advisory board will serve as a vital forum where problems can be ironed out before they escalate to the courts, and where scientifically researched and evidence-based advice can help us address key challenges,” Schreiber said. 

He said the department was inundated with costly court cases that it could not afford, many of them stemming from an inability to process applications timeously. A dashboard would be created to reflect all outstanding court orders so that the department complied with orders before even more costly litigation was instituted. Clearing the permitting backlog would also help with this problem, he said.

To tackle illegal immigration the department would increase the number of inspections at restaurants, spaza shops, farms and mines by over 50% in collaboration with other departments such as employment and labour, SAPS and local government. 

ensorl@businesslive.co.za