Western Cape’s finance MEC Mireille Wenger wrote to Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi two weeks ago requesting an official position on visa extensions.
The Western Cape’s minister of finance and economic opportunities, Mireille Wenger, wrote to Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi two weeks ago requesting an official position on visa extensions. This was after immigration officers began banning tourists and even medical professionals from SA.
This directive said that visitors in SA on a short-term visa who had applied for a visa extension on or before 30 November 2023, and who had not received a renewal outcome by 23 February 2024, should leave South Africa by 29 February to avoid being declared undesirable.Following an outcry over reports about tourists opting to leave the country earlier to avoid being banned, Motsoaledi told Parliament during the Budget debate on 14 February: “ directive is clearly misunderstood by all and sundry.
“So, the current position is that all the tourists who have applied for visa extensions, if they are in possession of a receipt that they have applied, it’s not applicable to them.”contacted Motsoaledi’s office for an official position on the matter, his spokesperson, Thabo Mokgola, insisted that what Motsoaledi had told Parliament during the Sona debate sufficed.
“While the 21 December 2023 internal circular is available on the DHA website, the clarification , is not available on the Home Affairs website. “Please can you urgently provide me with the official statement, notice, directive or any variation thereof, in terms of which relevant officials are unequivocally told what the current position is, and specifically that short-term visa holders with the requisite applications underway cannot be denied entry or declared ‘undesirable’, to assist in its communication to avoid further distress for visitors.
His girlfriend received a response three weeks later, but with the wrong dates. His was pending, but he was assured that if he presented his VFS Global receipt to immigration, that would suffice.
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