Minister of Home Affairs Aaron Motsoaledi has called on tourists who have been declared “undesirable” for overstaying their 90-day visit despite applying for an extension, to come forward for assistance.
Motsoaledi said if a tourist has applied for a 90-day extension and not yet received a response, the receipt issued served as an extension.
The minister was speaking at a briefing on Sunday to clarify a “leaked” internal circular sent to the Border Management Authority (BMA) which called on seasonal visitors who have overstayed their visit to return to their countries.
These seasonal tourists are called “swallows” as they move from the northern hemisphere to the southern hemisphere in search of sunny weather.
Motsoaledi said the internal circular, dated December 21, was meant to guide BMA officials at the ports of entry on what to do when they encounter nationals of other countries falling within particular categories at the borders.
The circular states: “Short-term visa holders issued in terms of section I I (1 ) (a) of the Immigration Act for 90 days or less, up to and including 30 November 2023, who have applied for a renewal of the visa but have not received their visa renewal outcome by 23 February 2024, they must make the necessary arrangements to depart from South Africa on or before 29 February 2024, to avoid being declared undesirable.”
The minister said the document had raised an unnecessary storm and the department had no intention of destroying the tourism sector.
“The Department of Home Affairs was accused of chasing tourists out of the country and in the process weakening and even risking the collapse of the tourism industry.”
In an effort to mitigate the impact of the circular, Motsoaledi said he had contacted the Minister of Tourism, Patricia de Lille, to discuss the matter.
Motsoaledi said a decision was made to approach the BMA and the Tourism Ministry to determine whether there was a significant spike of people who had visited South Africa as tourists and who were leaving as a result of the circular.
“De Lille informed us that only one case was referred to her department and she immediately contacted the Department of Home Affairs and the matter was resolved to the satisfaction of the individual concerned.”
He said after looking at stats at the ports of entry, especially the airports, they determined that at Cape Town International Airport there were five people who encountered problems because they were declared undesirable due to their overstay in the country.
“We have instructed officials to take steps so that this undesirability status could be lifted without any waste of time.”
He added that those who had applied for an extension and were declared undesirable while they were carrying their receipt should present themselves to the department.
This was so that their undesirability status could be removed.
“We are making a call to the people in the industry or any other institution which are in a position to identify such people so that we can immediately resolve their issues.”
Motsoaledi further said that all ports of entry have an electronic movement control system (MCS) that records the date of entry of a traveller.
It also automatically declares a traveller undesirable if they overstay their visit.
The Mercury