A major headache for the department of home affairs in processing temporary residence visas is having to establish the authenticity of relationships claimed between individuals.
Home affairs minister Aaron Motsoaledi revealed this in a written reply to a parliamentary question by DA MP Thembisile Khanyile who asked about the current backlog of processing applications for temporary residence visas.
The Sunday Times reported on a leaked document in which the department of home affairs said as of September 11 last year there were 95,711 applications for temporary residence visas at various stages of adjudication. Of these, 58,705 had not yet been assigned to an adjudicator.
The report also quoted from a leaked memorandum to the department from the Cape Town state attorney’s office which put the backlog of all visa applications at 950,000.
Business has repeatedly warned the backlog in processing visa applications is retarding economic growth as companies are unable to bring in skilled staff.
Motsoaledi said the delays and backlogs in processing by his department related to spousal and relative visas which constituted the majority of applications received for temporary residence. As of December 14 2023, about 86% of the backlog consisted of these relationship visa applications.
“The department is not just deliberately delaying the processing of such visas. The department is experiencing significant and ever-increasing challenges with regards to the legitimacy of relationships being claimed or cited as a reason for applying for these visas.
“Some foreign nationals have taken advantage and get into corruption to legitimise themselves, family members, friends and others. The number of fraudulent marriages, marriages of convenience and a special category of cohabitation are unfortunately on the increase.
“The category of cohabitation is even more problematic and easily attracts corruption because all that two people claiming to be staying with each other need to produce is a contract written by the notary public.
“There is nothing in law that forbids two people to legitimise their relationship through a notarial contract. The problem is that some of the contracts presented to the department look very suspicious and warrant a thorough investigation when such applications are processed. More worryingly, spousal visa applications based on the notarial contracts are on the increase.”
In reply to another question by IFP MP Liezl van der Merwe on fake marriages aimed at getting a visa, Motsoaledi said from January to November 2023 home affairs identified 1,614 fraudulent marriages of which 1,102 had been expunged. Fake marriages, the minister said, were sometimes arranged by a corrupt home affairs official or were marriages of convenience, the biggest category.
Motsoaledi said the department did not have immigration officers to investigate the authenticity of relationships. “Without knowing whether relationships are authentic, the department will find itself issuing visas to people who do not deserve to be in the country,” he added.
The minister gave the assurance the home affairs department had developed a plan to address the backlog. This involved dealing with the older temporary residence visa applications from 2022 concurrently with the current applications of 2023.
Motsoaledi disputed what he said was the central claim by various media, individuals and sometimes even companies or organisations, that the department of home affairs is causing economic stagnation and contributing largely to unemployment by delaying the processing of visas.
“Contrary to popular belief, the department has no undue delays on visas that impacts directly on the economy and employment.” The delays relate to spousal and relations visas.
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