Not too long ago, when visiting a Department of Home Affairs (DHA) office you could find a room stacked to the roof with files and paperwork relating to waiver and appeal applications, all waiting to be adjudicated.

No more of that, said Yusuf Simons, Acting Deputy Director-General for immigration services at the Department, during the recent Xpatweb Global Mobility Conference in Johannesburg.

Previously, waiver applications entailed a completely manual process, resulting in a mountain of paperwork and lengthy delays. Last year, the Department introduced a web-based waiver system where all outstanding applications were uploaded, streamlining the process. The Minister of Home Affairs also dedicated officials to deal with these waivers, allowing applications to be processed more efficiently and timeously.

These changes form part of a broader programme of immigration reforms implemented over the past two years, aimed at improving processing times, reducing backlogs and bringing greater predictability to the application process.

Marisa Jacobs, Managing Director of Xpatweb, says these are encouraging milestones as multinationals and large corporations continue to experience significant disruption and uncertainty because of delays in finalising appeals against rejected visas and waiver applications.

During a panel discussion with Home Affairs Minister Dr Leon Schreiber, and Simons at the Global Mobility Conference, she noted that long turnaround times remain a big struggle for business.

Streamlining the Waiver Process 

A waiver allows the Minister of Home Affairs to waive certain prescribed requirements in the Immigration Regulations, enabling applicants to apply for a particular visa category even if they do not fully meet all conditions. 

The Department implemented several practical solutions to deal with the volume of waiver applications. 

During the Conference, Simons explained one such an example. In the case of waivers involving asylum seekers, a court had ruled that where an asylum seeker wants to apply for a mainstream visa, the Department must allow the application without the person having to produce a passport. 

“As the case had already been decided by the courts, we realised that similar cases do not then still have to go to the Minister for a decision. Bringing these matters to a lower delegation had resulted in approximately 20,000 such waivers finalised within two months. The process is now flowing.”

Appeals Remain a More Difficult Challenge

The position is different when it comes to appeals against rejected visa applications, although here too the Department has introduced practical measures to improve turnaround times. 

The Immigration Act provides for two levels of appeal. A rejected visa or permit application can initially be appealed in terms of section 8(4), with the appeal reviewed by the Director-General. If the Director-General upholds the original decision, the applicant may submit a further appeal in terms of section 8(6), which is reviewed by the Minister.

Simons said fast-tracking the processing of some 300 000 visas stuck in the historic backlog stretching back a decade, led to some adjudication errors and which have subsequently been appealed. Some appeals are also “frivolous”, contributing to a longer decision-making process.

It is important to note that the Department cannot simply delegate section 8(6) appeals to lower-level officials because the Minister’s role is prescribed by the Immigration Act. This means that the focus must be on improving the processes around these appeals and accelerating their consideration.

The Department has been tracking the process daily and during July they met the processing target for Temporary Residence 8(6) and Temporary Residence 8(4) matters.

Continuing to Remove Administrative Bottlenecks

During the Conference the Minister acknowledged that after the Department had largely eradicated the historic backlog it faced two years ago, overdue applications have begun accumulating again including appeals against rejected applications, although at a much smaller scale.

Simons said some applications contributing to the build-up had been waiting for medical-report verification. These applications can now move forward following the waiver, granted in July 2026, of the requirement for temporary residence visa and permanent residence permit applicants to submit a medical report with their applications. The requirement had long been regarded as a costly and onerous administrative hurdle.

This waiver builds on earlier steps to simplify immigration requirements, including the waiver of the radiological report and relief granted for the requirement to provide police clearance certificates. Previously police clearance certificates were required from all countries where the applicant, after having turned 18, has resided for 12 months or longer. Now it is only required from countries where the applicant has resided for 12 months or longer during the five years immediately preceding the date of application.

These measures form part of the Department’s continued efforts to remove unnecessary administrative bottlenecks and keep applications moving through the system.

The Paper Mountain is Making Way for a More Responsive System

The transformation from a room filled with files to an increasingly digitised and delegated process is encouraging, but unlikely to happen overnight and challenges remain.

For applicants and businesses that have experienced lengthy delays, the remaining overdue applications is still a concern. But the changes introduced over the past two years point to a more practical approach to immigration administration which will benefit business and the broader South African economy, says Jacobs.

Written by XpatWeb