Andrew Stegmann

Heavy hand on visa laws

visa+passportThe current law fines foreigners who outstay their visas.

An amendment to the Immigration Act was gazetted in December and is due to be fast-tracked to become law. It now proposes that a person who overstays their visit to the country, even by one day, cannot get a visa to re-enter South Africa and cannot apply for a residence permit to live here.

They could also be banned for up to five years and appealing any decision or explaining what led to the transgression can take up to 18 months.

This sanction applies to first-time offenders as well.

The proposed law’s proponents argue that fines are not a sufficient deterrent to foreigners who overstay their visas.

Leon Isaacson, managing director of Global Migration SA, said the proposed law was not flexible and did not allow people who overstayed due to an emergency, illness, or by accident to be treated differently to visitors who stayed too long on purpose.

He said last month some Americans could not return home due to heavy snow in the US that led to a cancellation of flights for four days. This meant the Americans remained for four days longer than intended and overstayed their visas.

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René Stegmann

Nigerians In South Africa Urge Authority To Relax Visa Restriction

Nigerians living in South Africa have urged the Federal Government to prevail on its South African counterpart to relax the permit/visa restrictions for Nigerians as obtained in other African countries.

The President of Nigeria Union in South Africa (NUSA), Mr Ikechukwu Anyene, made the appeal in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Monday.

Anyene urged President Muhammad Buhari to use the occasion of President Jacob Zuma’s two-day visit to Nigeria to address their concerns.
He said that law-abiding Nigerians in South Africa were facing difficult situations on a daily basis.

He said that immigration laws in South Africa were recently reviewed and had practically rendered a lot of foreign nationals, including Nigerians illegal immigrants.

“It has now become very difficult to acquire South African permits; Nigerians in South Africa are made to face numerous bottlenecks when trying to renew their temporary residence permits.

“The same thing cannot be said of South Africans visiting or working in Nigeria.
“We feel it will be fair if South African authorities can relax the permit and visa restrictions for Nigerians as they have done for Southern African countries like Zimbabwe and Lesotho,” he said.

He said that the union was willing to work with the foreign ministry to project the good image of Nigeria.
Anyene said that the union was always willing to support the efforts of South African authorities in maintaining law and order within Nigerian communities in that country.

He said that the union had developed an identity card for all Nigerians in collaboration with the Consulate General in Johannesburg.
“We will like to suggest that the identity card be given recognition as another means of identification alongside others,“ he said.

He also appealed to the Federal Government to urgently intervene in the delay in acquiring a replacement passport when they lose their passports.

“This can be done by empowering the immigration officials at our various consulate offices to approve the re-issuance of lost passports instead of the current process of waiting for approval from Abuja,” he said. (NAN) – leadership.ng

Andrew Stegmann

Uganda: Govt Tightens Foreign Adoption Rules to Thwart Child Trafficking

ugandaKampala — Child rights campaigners in Uganda have welcomed a new law that restricts fast-track foreign adoptions in which children – often with living parents – can be whisked overseas in a matter of days.

Lawmakers passed a bill this week that requires foreigners seeking to adopt children to live in the east African country continuously for at least one year before applying and bars them from the quicker route of claiming legal guardianship.

“This ends the long wait for a proper legal regime that addresses the welfare and rights of our children,” said member of parliament Bernard Atiku, who initiated the bill.

Hundreds of Ugandan children have been adopted in recent years by foreigners, mainly Americans, some of whom have sidestepped restrictions by winning guardianship within days and then completing the adoption process back home.

Atiku said several children had been trafficked out of the country with no mechanism in place to trace where they end up or who they end up with.

This article was published here

Andrew Stegmann

South Africa: Mos Def Back in Court

mos defUnited States hip hop artist Yasiin Bey, popularly known as Mos Def, will appear in the Bellville Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday for contravening South Africa’s immigration laws.

Mos Def, born Dante Terrell Smith and now known as Yasiin Bey, was arrested last month after he attempted to leave Cape Town with an unrecognised “world passport”.

Immigration officials at Cape Town International Airport declined to accept the document, said home affairs spokesperson Mayihlome Tshwete.

According to Bey, he had been able to enter and exit the country previously, using the document.

Shahied Schreuder, the celebrity’s lawyer, said it was important to promote the country to the arts and culture, film, and performance sectors.

“Many more international celebrities are looking at South Africa as a destination of choice for retirement and business, etcetera, and we need to encourage that,” he said.

It was hoped the matter could be resolved amicably, he added.

This article was published here