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BREAKING NEWS ALERT May 2014
This alert applies to all foreign nationals applying for visas or permits of any description in South Africa after Monday the 26^th of May 2014.

The Minister of Home Affairs has on Thursday the 22^nd May signed the Immigration Regulations which will empower the Immigration Amendment Act 13 of 2011 to come into operation on the Monday the 26^th May.

It is important for clients to note, as we have been advising them for some time, that the Immigration Amendment Act and new regulations would be published “shortly”.

The Department of Home Affairs has kept the content of the regulations very much close to their chests, despite allowing a comment period on first draft of the regulations.

The new regulations have been published under Government Gazette nr 37679 and have only become readily available on Friday the 23^rd May.

Whilst there may be transitional arrangements in the pipeline, all applications that have not yet been lodged by the date of implementation of the new regulations, will have to be ostensibly dealt with under the new regulations.

There are some substantial changes and whilst we have dispatched newsletters to our clients and subscribers as to what these would probably be, our first […]

RE: UPDATE FEBRUARY 2014 – DRAFT IMMIGRATION REGULATIONS PUBLISHED BY THE MINISTER OF HOME AFFAIRS.

On Friday the 14th February the Minister of Home Affairs published the Draft Immigration Regulations and Forms under Government Gazette in order to secure public comment by the 28th of February 2014.

This is a rather short period within which to comment on highly technical regulations but the Law Society of South Africa and its statutory provincial law societies are currently engaged in drafting input in this regard.

The purpose of this update is not just to inform you about the above but also to issue an advisory at this stage regarding certain aspects of the draft regulations which, when finalized, will enable the Immigration Amendment Act 13 of 2011 to come into operation.

Speculation as to when this will happen is difficult to predict at this time but for all intents and purposes we have to assume that it would be sooner rather than later and by this we mean within the next 2 to 3 months.

The advisory to clients is premised upon the fact that applications which are lodged before the implementation date of the Amendment Act, must in terms of transitional provisions in the principle Act, […]

December 2013 Newsletter

CURRENT DIFFICULTIES BEING EXPERIENCED WITH THE DEPARTMENT OF HOME AFFAIRS

As always our plight continues within the Department of Home Affairs to ensure that application are processed as speedily as possible.

We would love to be reporting that all is going well on the service delivery side at the Department of Home Affairs at regional offices, embassies, high commission and consular offices as well as at the central adjudication hub of the Department of Home Affairs at its head office in Pretoria. However such a statement appears to still be a pipe-dream.

It is important that we draw to the attention of clients some of these difficulties as they impact on all applicants.

The first area of concern is that, on a unilateral basis, various offices of the Department of Home Affairs, both locally and abroad, have of late been imposing terms and conditions on acceptance of applications for lodgment, many of which are not founded either in the Immigration Act nor its Regulations nor any of the departmental directives of the Department.

This brings about a large degree of uncertainty as the Immigration Act and its Regulations prescribe precisely what documents must be lodged with any application, whether they should be […]

October 2013 Newsletter

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STATUS QUO IN RESPECT OF APPLICATIONS CURRENTLY UNDER CONSIDERATION AT THE DEPARTMENT OF HOME AFFAIRS

April 2013 Newsletter

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