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The DA urges the Minister of Home Affairs to put the implementation of biometric visas on hold to prevent further harm to South Africa’s tourism sector.

We have on numerous occasions called on the Minister to scrap the use of biometric visas in favour electronic e-visas.

The Minister has now announced a new task team to investigate the impact of new regulations, including requirements for biometric visas.

The Minister should suspend plans for the use of biometric visas until the new task team has completed its work. This follows reports that South African embassies abroad have not yet received the required equipment for biometric in-take in line with South Africa’s new immigration regulations, which come into effect on October 1.

Recent reports indicate that our embassies in China, India, Indonesia and Russia had not only failed to receive the required equipment but also have no indication as to whether they would be ready to meet the deadline.

The department is clearly not ready to implement the regulations. And even if it was ready to do so, the regulations would be devastating to our tourism industry.

Last month, Virgin Atlantic announced that it will be cancelling its Cape Town-London route. It also joined 20 international airlines who petitioned government to delay the new rules by a year, warning government about the serious implications the new visa requirements could have for South Africa as a tourism destination – adding difficulty and further expense to travel to our country.

The South African government must without delay implement steps to introduce electronic visas and suspend its plan to implement the new visa regulations; a plan that is clearly floundering.

In Parliament, the DA has already presented a petition to the Speaker of National Assembly on behalf of the Western Cape government to fight for the suspension of these regulations.

We need tourism to grow our economy and create jobs. I will continue to work with the industry and to push for a review of these regulations and the introduction of e-visas.

Issued by the DA