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A dedicated team was set up in April to reduce the backlog. This has resulted in significant progress. The backlog of 306,042 applications has been reduced by 92,886, a reduction of 30%. A decision was also taken that Auditing firm Deloitte, as well as First National Bank, will provide additional resources for the visa backlog team.
South African Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber is committed to making his department a powerful engine of economic growth. As a sequel to his commitment, Schreiber has taken urgent action to reduce the backlog of permit applications. He stressed the importance of clearing the backlog of pending licenses to unlock scarce skills and grow tourism to create jobs.
A dedicated team was set up in April to reduce the backlog. This has resulted in significant progress. The backlog of 306,042 applications have been reduced by 92,886, a reduction of 30%. A decision was also taken that Auditing firm Deloitte, as well as First National Bank, will provide additional resources for the visa backlog team.
Schreiber said in his budget vote speech to a mini-plenary of the National Assembly that he would monitor daily reports on the state of the backlog until it is eradicated. Long queues outside the home affairs office and system downtime would also be addressed. He said his department would accelerate the implementation of the reforms of Operation Vulindlela, the unit in the presidency tasked with implementing structural reforms, such as the streamlining of required documents and the introduction of the trusted employer scheme. 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 the country our beautiful, and spend their valuable foreign currency are some of the other plans in the pipeline.
Schreiber 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.
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The advisory board will serve as a vital forum where problems can be ironed out before they escalate to the courts, Schreiber 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.
