Unabridged birth certificates scrapped in time for festive season

Unabridged birth certificates scrapped in time for festive season

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As the festive season approaches, the department of home affairs will scrap regulations requiring parents travelling with minors to present an unabridged birth certificate at ports of entry.

Speaking at a media briefing on Tuesday, Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba said minors will still require the consent of both parents to leave the country. Children may travel however, with a birth certificate and a minor passport, which is in the process of being rolled out, and is in line with section 18 (3)(C) of the Children’s Act .

Rules from 2014 had stipulated that minors had to carry an unabridged birth certificate and have parental consent to travel.

In an interview with Radio 702 last week, David Frost, CEO of the Southern Africa Tourism Services Association said, “We know in the first year when the unabridged certificate requirement was being placed, 13 000 people were being turned away from points of embarkation but the real cost is people considering South Africa as a destination, coming across the requirements and then simply going to alternate destinations.”

Foreign minors will not have to carry parental consent and birth certificate with the new visa amendments. However, their parents will have to carry the documentation for their children, and travellers will have the opportunity to prove parental consent or relations to the child.

These changes, Gigaba promised, will be implemented “in good time before the festive season”.

“The department of home affairs, is committed to managing immigration in a way that advances our national development, security and our international obligations,” Gigaba said.

“It is a challenge inherent in immigration management to protect, prevent and act against these risks,” Gigaba added.

In an effort to retain critical skills, the government will make it easier for international graduates to stay in South Africa.

If an international student studied and graduated with a critical skill in South Africa, they may be eligible for permanent residence. Gigaga said however, “If you pursue a course outside the critical skill list, you will have to follow the normal steps to gain permanent residency.”

However, the list of what constitutes being highly skilled has yet to be discussed or finalised.

The changes had been finalised during a September 19 Cabinet meeting. These include changes to regulations applying to foreign minors travelling to South Africa, visa waivers, and relaxation of visa requirements for certain countries namely Nigeria, China and India.

According to Gigaba, travellers from India and China will be issued a 10-year multiple entry visa within five days of application, instead of the previous five-year multiple entry visa.

“We play a critical role in admitting over 10-million international visitors annually, which includes tourists, investors and neighbours,” said Gigaba. “Millions of jobs are sustained by the economic activity generated by these travellers.”

Gigaba said he wanted to make travel for visitors who support the growth of the economy as easy as possible, “while guarding against travellers who do not abide by our laws, those who overstay and persons associated with transnational threats such as organised crime, human trafficking, and terrorism.”

Other changes include an e-visa and e-gate. The latter will be piloted at Cape Town, King Shaka, and OR Tambo international airports to allow returning South African citizens, and trusted travellers — international travellers who visit South Africa frequently and do not have a criminal record — to use a self-service kiosk, lessening the number of people interacting with an immigration officer.

Gigaba said that South Africa was developing a biometric control movement in order to clear travellers quickly on arrival. The system has been piloted at Cape Town, Lanseria and OR Tambo and King Shaka airports. It has also been piloted at six of the country’s key land ports and processes are at an advanced stage to overhaul systems at land ports that have led to congestion.

“These measures have the potential to boost tourism and make business travel a lot more conducive. Tourism continues to be a great job creator and through these measures we are confident that many more tourists will visit South Africa,” President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Friday.

Source: Mail and Guardian

Delinking Citizenship and Permanent Residency

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The new white paper is looking to address our current outdated legislation as well as policy gaps in respect to international migration policies and has implemented a more modern holistic approach

How will these proposed changes affect Citizenship by naturalisation?

Delinking citizenship from permanent residence

Our current Citizenship Amendment Act of 2010, allows an applicant to apply for South African Citizenship by naturalisation if they have been a Permanent Resident Permit holder for a period of at least 10 years. Therefore, in terms of our current legislation there is a definite natural progression between the duration of having permanent residence and the right to apply for Citizenship.

The White Paper confirms that the granting of residency and citizenship should now be delinked. It proposes that the permanent residence permit be entirely replaced with a long-term residence visa that will be later reviewable and not contribute towards citizenship. Further a points-based system will be used to determine who will qualify for a short or long-term visa. The Department of Home Affairs proposes scoring an applicant based on their qualifications, age, investment amount, work experience, type of business and the ability to transfer skills. This is not unlike the immigration systems implemented by Canada and the United Kingdom where points-based systems are being used.

Accordingly, there will be no automatic progression from residency to citizenship in law or in practice. Further, that the granting of citizenship to foreign nationals should be considered as being exceptional and requiring an executive decision of the Minister of the Department of Home Affairs.

It is proposed that an advisory panel be established to consider citizenship applications and to make recommendations to the Minister. The purpose of these policy interventions is to enable South Africa to grant citizenship status to foreigners based on strategic, security considerations and national priorities.

In light of the above, if you were considering applying for South African Citizenship, it will be worthwhile taking into consideration the pending changes and making your application as soon as possible.

Department of Home Affairs clamping down on illegal immigrant employment

Department of Home Affairs clamping down on illegal immigrant employment

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Marisa Jacobs, Immigration Specialist at Xpatweb, says that considering recent arrests that have been made, HR professionals, managers, business owners and CEOs need to make sure that systems are in place to ensure that expatriates are legally employed within their business.

“The Department of Home Affairs has warned that they will be increasing the number of audits and investigations among South African companies that employ foreign nationals. This isn’t an empty threat and they are clamping down on foreign nationals who contravene the act as well as employers who are illegally employing foreigners. Anyone who is deemed responsible for the appointment of the person could face repercussions which means that everyone from HR managers to CEOs could face fines or imprisonment,” says Jacobs.

Pitfall no.1: Employees job titles don’t match work visa job titles

Making sure that an employee’s job title matches the title on their work visa is a vital step to ensuring that foreigners are complying with the Act.

“It can happen that a company employs a foreign national and that the employee is promoted or moved within the business. When an employee changes jobs and their job title or position changes, their work visa may no longer comply with the conditions thereof. The process to update the visa so that it is in line with the work contract is relatively simple and straightforward, but it’s a step that many employers overlook, and this can put them at risk to non-compliance,” says Jacobs.

Pitfall no.2: Information on permits don’t match DHA system information

If a company has employed a foreign national already in possession of a visa, the company may not know if the worker’s visa is legitimate, whether it was obtained in the correct manner or even if it was issued by the DHA.

“In this case, we recommend that employers contact the DHA to check what information is on the system. This additional check beyond looking at a work visa is needed to ensure compliance with the Act,” says Jacobs.

Pitfall no.3: No skills transfer plan

Another potential pitfall that companies should take note of is the condition relating to the transfer of skills. Certain categories of work visas for foreign nationals stipulate that the skill that is being imported needs to be transferred to local citizens. If a company is audited by the DHA, the company may be asked to present their skills transfer plans.

“One of the main reasons South African businesses employ foreign nationals is because we don’t have the skills, knowledge or expertise within our borders. Having a skills transfer plan in place is a great opportunity for local employers to upskill their employees and give them an opportunity to learn from foreigners so that they can cultivate the skills that are needed within their business as well as the country. Besides requesting a copy of the company’s skills transfer plan, DHA may further request to interview people who have been earmarked to learn from the foreign nationals,” concludes Jacobs.

Citizenship for children born to foreign parents in SA under investigation

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According to Advocate Priscilla Jana, deputy chairperson of the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC), the organisation has been unaware that unabridged birth certificates were not issued to such children.

Following confusion and disappointment after the implementation of the unabridged birth certificates visa regulations for minor travellers going in and out of SA, the SAHRC now says they will review why children born in the country to foreign parents are not automatically awarded citizenship by the Department of Home Affairs.

DHA spokesperson, Thabo Mokgola told Cape Argus earlier this week that the department’s policy was that “for record purposes, a notice of birth” is issued to children born to foreign parents in SA instead.

The DHA also says that despite the SAHRC claims, South Africa “legislation on this fundamental matter of citizenship is clear”.

“The basic principle of the South African citizenship is that a child follows the citizenship or nationality of his or her parents. If one parent is a South African citizen, the child will be a citizen by birth,” the DHA says. “A foreign child adopted by South African citizens becomes a citizen by descent whilst a naturalised citizen is one who has complied with the requirements for naturalisation as set out in section 5 of the South African Citizenship Act.”

Not South African citizens 

The DHA says that children can only become citizens of South Africa “in terms of birth, descent or naturalisation. Citizenship is not in every country based on nationality of territory. Children born of permanent residents follow their parents’ status.”

They say that children born outside of these requirements have to follow a different protocol. The notification of birth issued by hospitals in SA can “be taken to the parents’ countries of origin for registration and issuance of passport, after which the child will be issued with a derivative permanent residence permit status, upon application.”

According to Mokgola, a notice of birth, containing the child’s foreign parents’ details as correctly documented in their valid passports and visas, will be sufficient for the child to travel outside of the country to be registered.

Mokgola tells Traveller24 that children born to registered and documented refugees and asylum seekers will also be able to use the notice of birth to exit the country to gain citizenship from their parents’ country of origin.

Illegal foreign parents ‘disadvantaging their own children’

The DHA notes that when foreign parents are in South Africa illegally, and a child is born in the country to such parents, they are “disadvantaging their own children” as these children’s notice of birth will not be helpful in gaining the child citizenship.

Many foreign parents in SA are not registered, however, and their children are automatically disadvantaged and their human rights infringed upon because of this.

But the DHA insists that it’s the “parents who fail to take responsibility to safeguard their children’s identity and nationality, precisely because they themselves are in the country illegally”.

Infringement of children’s rights 

It is exactly here where the SAHRC along with Cape Town attorney Joy van der Heyde feels that children’s rights are infringed upon due to no fault of their own.

Van der Heyde tells Cape Argus that she deals with such cases, and has filed nine notices against Home Affairs in the Western Cape High Court. All notices related to the department’s alleged refusal to issue unabridged birth certificates to foreign parents.

Van der Heyde points out that the notice of birth is issued by the hospital when a child is born can not serve as an identity document, which means that the child cannot be registered at school or obtain social grants.

Furthermore, it is impossible to adopt a child without an unabridged birth certificate, which is a further disadvantage to children born in such circumstances.

Confusion for minor travel 

In cases where one parent is South African, and the other a foreign citizen, the latter parent’s details are also not included in the child’s birth certificate – which is both an infringement on the child’s rights as well as his or her right ability to travel.

As both parents won’t be listed on the unabridged birth certificate, the child will be unable to travel in and out of the country as they need the consent of both parents to do so.

It is every child’s right to have a name, identity number or a country of origin and the DHA’s refusal to issue children born in SA with the proper documents falls short of their basic human rights, hence the SAHRC involvement.

 

As published by traveller24.news24.com

Private Institutes To Be Registered With Department of Higher Education – WAIVED

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A ‘learning institution’ is defined as follows in the regulation –

  1. “An institution of higher education established in terms of the Higher Education Act, 1997 (Act No. 101 of 1997); or
  1. A college established in terms of the Further Education and Training Colleges Act, 2006 (Act No. 16 of 2006), but does not include-
    1. a school offering further education and training programmes under the South African Schools Act, 1996 (Act No. 84 of 1996); or
    2. a college under the authority of a government department other than the Department of Higher Education and Training; or
  1. A school contemplated in section 1 of the South African Schools Act, 1996 (Act No. 84 of 1996).”

The waiver states that when applying for a study visa, the applicants must comply with all the requirements, however will be accepted where Learning Institutes are still in the process of registering with the relevant Education Department.

Click here to view the directive.

Click to view the list of –

The list will be updated by the Department regularly.