René Stegmann
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Lesotho Special Permit deadline extended

image001Saturday 1 October 2016 06:36

SABC

Malusi Gigaba says the process at the 11 application centres set up throughout the country will continue until December 31.(SABC)

Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba says Lesotho nationals have until December to regularise their stay in the country or face deportation.

Gigaba says the department will consider extending the deadline for online applications later. The cut-off date is Saturday. The department says over 82 000 Lesotho nationals have submitted their applications.

Gigaba says the process at the 11 application centres set up throughout the country will continue until December 31.

“We are now in the process of adjudicating those applications to see if they comply with our requirements. But we’ve more numbers of people up to 82 000 plus, who have submitted online applications and some have not done their payments through EFT. We’ve since our meeting on Friday with the minister of home affairs in Lesotho received a request to consider extending the process until December.”

 

https://youtu.be/jyoXGw0RczU

René Stegmann
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Lesotho Special Permits: SA Home Affairs eases requirements to legalise more Basotho 2016-09-27 12:28 – Louzel Lombard

Cape Town – The  South African Department of Home Affairs is doing everything in their power to legalise Lesotho nationals’ stays in South Africa.

Basotho nationals wait patiently to apply for the Lesotho Special Permit which will allow them to live and work in South Africa legally. The deadline for applications is 30 September – with no extension. To date only 12% of an estimated 400 000 Lesotho nationals living in South Africa have applied.

In an effort to push up the number of applicants for the Lesotho Special Permit (LSP) and create a one-stop shop to save applicants’ time, the DHA on Tuesday, 27 September, announced a new special provision that allows Basotho to apply for the Lesotho Special Permit, at the VFS Global-operated application centres, without passports.

Previously, one of the requirements for Lesotho nationals to gain permission to stay in SA legally was to have a valid passport or travel document with a unique Lesotho identity (ID) number. The previous requirement further stated that the passport be valid for a period of more than four years.

South Africa had earlier granted amnesty to all Basotho nationals until 31 December 2016 to handover fraudulent SA IDs at dedicated Home Affairs offices. Those who comply will be eligible to apply for LSP with the application closing date remaining 30 September 2016.

The Department will make these concessions applicable:

People with Lesotho ID cards but without valid passports can apply for LSP by 30 September 2016. However, they must provide their passports by 31 December 2016.

Those who have submitted a fully completed application form but have not paid for their visa can do so by 31 December 2016.

If applying with a passport, applicants with passports expiring within the next two years and having the LSP visa in them, can use both their old and new passports. In these cases, there would be no need to apply and pay for transfer of LSP visas.

Basotho applicants for the LSP must now only fulfill of the following requirements:

Be registered on the National Population Register (NPR) system of Lesotho and a have a Lesotho ID card.

Lesotho nationals who are in South Africa for less than 12 months need to have a police clearance certificate from Lesotho that is not more than six months old.

Applicants DO NOT need to apply for a South African police clearance certificate. The DHA in South Africa will obtain the South African Police Service clearance on behalf of all LSP applicants.

Applicants should also provide proof of employment or an affidavit from their employer in order to be issued with an LSP work permit.

For registration with an educational institution, all supporting documents or letters from an employer, school or business must show that the applicant has been residing in South Africa since before 30 September 2015.

NOTE: Those applicants who may have fraudulently obtained South African documents need to surrender them to the designated DHA office, and obtain an amnesty letter. This amnesty is until 31 December 2016.

Those who have applied have until the end of December 2016 to pay for the special permit and present their valid passports to receive the permit.

The end of September marks the deadline for undocumented Basotho who work, study or do business in South Africa to get the necessary assistance in order to regularise their stay.

Thus, Lesotho nationals have only seven days left to visit one of the 11 LSP where they will be assisted with their permit applications. The LSP project was launched in March this year, following which, a three-month extension was granted on 30 June to allow more time for Basotho nationals to apply.

To date, only 12%, or 77 720 people of the estimated 400 000 Lesotho nationals living in South Africa have applied for the LSP. Of these, 50 303 have made the necessary payment and booked appointments to visit VFS Global centres countrywide to complete the process.

Basotho who have still not applied must do so speedily, as the DHA says there will be no extensions for Lesotho permits to be issued.

René Stegmann

The Immigration Regulations of the Immigration Act, No. 13 of 2002 define a Police Clearance Certificate as follows:

 “A certificate issued by the police or security authority in each country where the relevant applicant resided for 12 months or longer after attaining the age of 18 years, in respect of criminal records or the character of that applicant, which certificate shall not be older than six months at the time of its submission: Provided that the certificate shall not be required from a foreign country in the case of renewal or extension of a visa but from the Republic”.

With effect from the 01st of October 2016 The Department of Home Affairs will automate the process of obtaining a South African Police Clearance Certificate. Instead of the applicant going to a police station to apply for a police clearance, VFS will use the applicant’s biometrics (fingerprints) which we are already collecting in the current process and use them to run background checks against the South African Police Services database. On receipt of the electronic police clearance VFS will merge the records with the main application and transmit the contents electronically to DHA as a full and complete application. The SAPS database background check will take an average of 24 – 36 hours, a great improvement from the 3 to 4 months that it takes currently to get a police clearance from SAPS, as reported by applicants. 

The total fee per adult applicant in addition for this service will be R175.00 (Incl. VAT) per criminal background check. The Department is already running this process successfully for both the Zimbawean Special Permit and the Lesotho Special Permit applications. 

Please be advised that the current manual submission of RSA police clearances will be accepted until the 31st of October 2016. This automation of the police clearance is only applicable to RSA police clearance certificates. Any other Police Clearance Certificates issued by the police or security authority in each country where the relevant applicant resided for 12 months or longer after attaining the age of 18 years will still be accepted manually.

For any further questions please contact us.

Tracy du Plessis

Director – Immigration

   

      E | tracy@relocationafrica.com

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      ShareCall | 0860 102 894

      42 Goldbourne Road Kenilworth, 7800, Cape Town

      www.relocationafrica.com
René Stegmann

Home Affairs reassures LGBTI bodies over anti-gay pastor visit – POLITICS / 9 September 2016, 6:12pm Shina Mphahlele

Homophobic United States pastor, Steven Anderson. Photo: Supplied. Credit: SUPPLIED
Johannesburg – The Department of Home Affairs on Friday said it was in talks with the Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) organisations and other stakeholders over the openly homophobic US Pastor Steven Anderson’s planned visit to South Africa.

Anderson, who is widely known for his anti-gay sentiments on social media, is scheduled to preach in Johannesburg on 18 September.
Homophobic United States pastor, Steven Anderson. Photo: Supplied. Credit: SUPPLIED
He reportedly told congregants at his Arizona-based Faithful Word Baptist Church that there are now “50 less paedophiles in this world” following the June 12, massacre at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida that left 49 people dead.

The night club was frequented by gay patrons.
In a video doing the rounds in South Africa Anderson maintains his homophobic stance, saying homosexuals deserved to die.

“I don’t condone violence, but gays should be executed,” Anderson says in the video.

In another video Anderson says SA Home Affairs Minister, Malusi Gigaba, can not legally ban him from entering the country and that he had misled the public by claiming that he had the powers to do so.

In a statement, the Department of Home Affairs said they had noted Anderson’s comments.

The department said an official announcement would be made after finalising the consultations with LGBTI organisations and other stakeholders.

“The basis of our work is on managing comments directed at the LGBTI community and their rights. We are not prepared to expend our energy on dealing with irrational aspersions directed at the Minister,” Home Affairs said.

“If we were to react to every insult directed at the minister or the department, then South Africa will indeed become an empty country.”

The department said it wanted to reaffirm its support for the LGBTI community.