The Department of Home Affairs spokesman, Thabo Makgola, said a private company, VFS Visa Processing SA Pty Ltd (VFS Global), was appointed to receive and manage visa and permit applications in South Africa. He said South Africa is taking immigration issues “seriously”.
VFS – Visa Facilitation Services (South Africa)
VFS Global is a processing operation and therefore will not offer visa seeking immigrants any advice as to the immigration rules. Prospective immigrants will therefore still need to consult with immigration lawyers or gather the rules from the Departments website.
VFS will not make a decision to grant or refuse a Visa. This decision remains with the Department of Home Affairs.
South African immigration lawyers and specialists have recently expressed concern over its weak migration policy saying the government would want to tighten laws to ensure security for the country. Even once the new immigration regulations were published, they and the organisation around how this was done was criticised to the point that certain immigration professionals are considering legal action against the Deaprtment of Home Affairs
The country is home to thousands of refugees from Somalia, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Pakistan, Rwanda, and Democratic Republic of Congo among others. Malusi Gigaba was recently appointed Home Affairs Minister.
South African Home Affairs said that the new Visa Facilitation Services (VFS) centres (called VACs) would open on Thursday (5 June 2014) in an effort to strengthen its immigration policy. Not all VACs have opened yet, depending on the area involved the opening dates are as follows:
• Pretoria VAC, Kimberley, Rustenburg – 02 June 2014
• Durban VAC, Bloemfontein VAC, George VAC – 09 June 2014
• Johannesburg VAC – 18 June 2014
• Cape Town VAC – 20 June 2014
• Polokwane VAC, Nelspruit VAC, Port Elizabeth VAC – 23 June 2014
The VFS South Africa website is already available at the following web address:
http://www.vfsglobal.com/dha/southafrica/