Cape Town – The departments of home affairs and tourism have finally announced that the controversial visa laws – which required all minors travelling to or going out of SA to have an unabridged birth certificates – will be replaced in favour of an updated passport for minors with printed details of both parents – to come into effect over 3 to 12 months time.
Director-General of the Department of Home Affairs, Mkuseli Apleni addressed media on Friday to relay the progress made since the announcement of the amendment programme outlined by the Inter Ministerial Committee (IMC)at the end of October last year.
Despite much upheaval from the tourism industry about the DHA taking the full three months allowed to the department in order to put the IMC changes into effect, Apleni said at the briefing, “We are indeed on course”.
The DHA said going forward, South Africans applying for new passports for minors will receive a document detailing both parents particulars, and that this would be the accepted travel document instead of the unabridged birth certificate. The process however, still needs to be rolled out.
While South Africa has two versions of the birth certificate, an abridged (issued for newborns up until 2013) and an unabridged birth certificate detailing both parents details (issued to all new borns since 2014) – this requirement has not been scrapped, since all parents need to apply for it when registering their babies, the department said.
What will change over the next 3 to 12 months is the need to travel with the birth certificate document, since the new updated version of the passport will become the recognised travel document.
Added to this, the department said international visitors who have gone through the process of applying for a visa in order to enter South Africa, would not be required to provide birth certificate identification provided both parents are travelling with the minor. Parents of minors from visa exempt countries are however advised to strongly travel with the birth certificate, should it be requested by immigration officials.
Additional priorities to be addressed in the next three months include:
– Add visa facilitation centres, including in Zimbabwe, United Arab Emirates and Botswana.
– Consider a visa-waiver for India, China, Russia and other countries.
– Look at issuing visas on arrival for persons travelling to SA having in their passports valid visas for the UK, USA and Canada or any other country that applies stringent checks on visitors to their countries, to ease travel for tourists.
– Consider granting a certain category of frequent travellers (business and academics) from Africa a 10-year Multiple Entry Visitor’s Visa.
– Open two Business Visa Facilitation Centres in Durban and Port Elizabeth, in addition to the centre recently opened in Sandton.
This article was originally published here
DHA scraps unabridged birth certificate rule for updated passports for minors
Cape Town – The departments of home affairs and tourism have finally announced that the controversial visa laws – which required all minors travelling to or going out of SA to have an unabridged birth certificates – will be replaced in favour of an updated passport for minors with printed details of both parents – to come into effect over 3 to 12 months time.
Director-General of the Department of Home Affairs, Mkuseli Apleni addressed media on Friday to relay the progress made since the announcement of the amendment programme outlined by the Inter Ministerial Committee (IMC)at the end of October last year.
Despite much upheaval from the tourism industry about the DHA taking the full three months allowed to the department in order to put the IMC changes into effect, Apleni said at the briefing, “We are indeed on course”.
The DHA said going forward, South Africans applying for new passports for minors will receive a document detailing both parents particulars, and that this would be the accepted travel document instead of the unabridged birth certificate. The process however, still needs to be rolled out.
While South Africa has two versions of the birth certificate, an abridged (issued for newborns up until 2013) and an unabridged birth certificate detailing both parents details (issued to all new borns since 2014) – this requirement has not been scrapped, since all parents need to apply for it when registering their babies, the department said.
What will change over the next 3 to 12 months is the need to travel with the birth certificate document, since the new updated version of the passport will become the recognised travel document.
Added to this, the department said international visitors who have gone through the process of applying for a visa in order to enter South Africa, would not be required to provide birth certificate identification provided both parents are travelling with the minor. Parents of minors from visa exempt countries are however advised to strongly travel with the birth certificate, should it be requested by immigration officials.
Additional priorities to be addressed in the next three months include:
– Add visa facilitation centres, including in Zimbabwe, United Arab Emirates and Botswana.
– Consider a visa-waiver for India, China, Russia and other countries.
– Look at issuing visas on arrival for persons travelling to SA having in their passports valid visas for the UK, USA and Canada or any other country that applies stringent checks on visitors to their countries, to ease travel for tourists.
– Consider granting a certain category of frequent travellers (business and academics) from Africa a 10-year Multiple Entry Visitor’s Visa.
– Open two Business Visa Facilitation Centres in Durban and Port Elizabeth, in addition to the centre recently opened in Sandton.
This article was originally published here
New Localization Requirement for Employers Hiring Foreign Workers
Employers in the Republic of Guinea that seek to hire non-Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) workers must comply with a localization plan requirement. Employers who already employ non-ECOWAS foreign workers have 90 days to provide their Africanization plan.
Key requirements of each Africanization plan include the following:
• The employer must provide an outline of its plans to train Guinean executives;
• The plan must include an authorization from the public employment service and the Guinean Agency Promoting Employment (AGUIPE); and
• The implementation time must not exceed two years for supervisors and four years for higher positions.
What This Means for Employers and Foreign Nationals
Employers should be prepared to submit Africanization plans with new work permit applications, and should contact their immigration professional to prepare plans for their current workers.
The review of the Africanization plan may delay work permit approvals.
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The Power of Difference – Workshop in Cape Town for Expatriates
Please see the detail in the attached invitation and respond to me, rene@relocationafrica.com by 12th February 2016, with the name/s of the people who you would like to attend this workshop. We certainly hope you and a team member/s will join for this interactive workshop.
Power of Difference 160224 Invitation
If Africans Don’t Exploit Opportunities In African Logistics, Foreigners Will
The shipping numbers speak to the positive outlook for Africa’s logistics business, said Charles Brewer, managing director of DHL Express Sub-Saharan Africa, a leading logistics company. In light of the economic pressure Europe is experiencing, DHL’s dependency on Europe has been reduced, while Intra-Africa trade has picked up significantly, Brewer said.
E-commerce has helped to grow African logistics business. More Africans are buying online rather than at physical shops. The size of the outsourced logistics market in Africa has grown by 38.4 percent in the last four years.
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