René Stegmann

Consulate Closures in South Africa.

  1.  ALL VFS Schengen – Will be open, only closed on South African Public Holidays

 

  1.  Angola Cape Town – Closing 15th December re-opening 09th January 2017

 

  1.  Angola Johannesburg – Closing 15th December 2016 and re-opening 11th January 2017

 

  1.  Belgium – Will be open, only closed on South African Public Holidays (Cape Town and Johannesburg)

 

  1.  Canada – Normal Christmas holidays

 

  1.  China Closed – Closed 16, 26th, 27th December 2016 and 02nd January 2017

 

  1.  Egypt – No updates yet but generally closed between Christmas and South African Public Holidays

 

  1.  France – Closed 16th, 26th, 27th December 2016 and 02nd January 2017

 

  1.  Germany – Only Closed on South African public Holidays. The Embassy and Consulate will have skeleton staff but will impact the processing times.

 

  1.  Greece – Normal Christmas holidays.

 

  1.  Italy – Closed 16th, 26th, 27th December 2016 and 02nd January 2017

 

  1.  Japan – Closed 16th, 26th, 27th, 28th, 29th, 30th December 2016 and 02nd January 2017

 

  1.  Madagascar – Closed 16th, 26th, 27th December 2016 and 02nd January 2017

 

  1.  Morocco – No updates yet but generally closed between Christmas and South African Public Holidays

 

  1.  Mozambique – No updates yet but generally closed between Christmas and South African Public Holidays

 

  1.  Nigeria – Closed between 28th of December 2016 and 2 January 2017

 

  1.  Russia – Closed 16th, 26th, 27th December 2016 and 02nd January 2017 to 6 January 2017

 

  1.  Rwanda – No updates yet but generally closed between Christmas and South African Public Holidays

 

  1.  Senegal – 26 December 2016 until 02 January 2017

 

  1.  Taiwan – Closed 16th, 26th, 27th December 2016 and 02nd January 2017

 

  1.  TLS Australia – 26 December 2016 until 2 January 2017

 

  1.  TLS Switzerland – Closed on certain days currently confirmed for 27, 28 and 29 December 2016. Another update will follow next week.

 

  1.  TLS United Kingdom – Only closed on South African Public Holidays and working with skeleton staff (May impact processing times)

 

  1.  Uganda: Closed from 15 December 2016 until 5 January 2017

 

  1.  Ukraine – Closed 16th, 26th, 27th, 28th, 29th, 30th December 2016 and 02nd January 2017

 

  1.  USA (no updates yet but generally between closed between Christmas and South African Public Holidays)

 

  1.  Vietnam – Closed 16th, 26th, 27th December 2016 and 02nd January 2017

 

Andrew Stegmann
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SA to Get Child Passport

PRETORIA – The Department of Home Affairs says it’s working hard to make travel easier for South Africans.

For many parents, getting the right documents to leave the country with their kids, is a nightmare, in response Home Affairs is now working on introducing a passport for children.

Home Affairs Director General, Mkuseli Apleni said, “Now we have designed a new passport at the time that the parents applying for the child passport, the details of parents will already be in the passport, parents cannot change they will remain until you die, then there won’t be a need to carry the birth certificate.”

The new passport will become available next year.

The department hopes this document will also help stop child trafficking. Over 30, 000 minors are trafficked through South African borders annually.

Meanwhile, officials say budget cuts have affected operations.

Apleni explained, “As a department we were affected about the issue of capping the number of positions, we are lower base it causes problems and at the OR Tambo you cleared based on the number of counters and it’s frustrate passengers to arrive at OR Tambo, there are 45 counters and 20 counters are manned, cause we don’t have people.”

But despite the personnel shortages, officials are promising, travellers will get adequate service at immigration checkpoints.

Source

Andrew Stegmann
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Uganda: When Kenyan Immigration Officials Almost Deported Me

It was not my mistake yet officials of Kenya’s Directorate of Immigration and Registration of Persons almost deported me to “teach me a lesson”.

It was mid-morning early this month when I arrived at Nairobi’s Wilson Airport on a domestic flight.

Passenger baggage was scanned and we showed our IDs to an immigration official, who appeared to be past middle age. She flipped the pages of my passport. She flipped some more. She looked at me. Then flipped again. I was beginning to hold up the queue.

The official asked why my passport did not have an entry visa stamp. I said I had no idea whether it had or not. When I flew into Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) days earlier, I had presented my passport to a man at the immigration desk handling East Africans. I had seen him stamp it before handing it back to me.

Andrew Stegmann

African Govts. Holding $2B Revenue Owed To Foreign Airlines

The African Airlines Association (AFRAA) has urged African governments to release about $2 billion in revenue owed to foreign carriers to avoid suspension or shut-down of operations on the continent.

The pan-African body said that the Angolan, Nigerian, Egyptian and Sudanese governments have blocked repatriation of the earnings, which has also contributed to the turbulent market faced by several airlines.

“Nigeria and Egypt have repatriated some funds recently. However, it is critical that airlines should be able to fully repatriate their funds,” AINonline quoted AFRAA Secretary General, Elijah Chingosho said during the organization’s 48th annual general assembly in Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe, on Monday.

Chingosho added that the global fall in oil prices and fall in tourism earnings that has hit several countries on the continent since 2014 is a major reason why the governments failed to repatriate the revenues.

The calls come five months after the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said that the decision by African governments to block funds made it difficult for international airlines to operate on the continent.

IATA added that the move may force some of the airlines to cut flights into the affected countries until the issues are resolved.

Nigeria was estimated to hold about $600 million in airlines’ funds, fin24 reported.

Emirates Airline announced plans to suspend flights to the Nigerian city of Lagos last month, due to high operational costs and foreign currency shortage while Kenya Airways stopped flying to Abuja as part of cutting costs.

In June, Iberia Airlines of Spain and United Airlines of the U.S withdrew flights to Africa’s second biggest economy due to the blocked funds and difficult operating circumstances, Associated Press reported.

Several airlines on the continent are facing tough times, in the wake of a turbulent year where they have continued to record losses in their operations.

Source