Latest news with #LeonSchreiber
IOL News
11 hours ago
- Business
- IOL News
Home Affairs Minister launches new Sydney facility to streamline passport and birth registration for South Africans
South African Home Affairs Minister, Leon Schreiber, with his Australian counterpart, Minister Tony Burke. Image: X South Africa's Department of Home Affairs has taken a significant step to ease the bureaucratic burden faced by its citizens living abroad by inaugurating a new facility in Sydney, Australia. This long-awaited initiative, announced by Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber, is poised to transform the way South Africans access vital documents such as passports, minor passports, and birth registrations. For years, expatriates have been hampered by painfully long wait times, often up to 18 months, to renew essential documents. 'That all changed today as we launched a new facility in Sydney with a turnaround time of just five weeks for passports, minor passports, and birth registrations," Schreiber stated during the launch. The new facility aims not only to enhance accessibility but also to restore dignity to South Africans living outside their homeland. The launch of this service is part of a broader strategy by Schreiber to expand Home Affairs capabilities globally. He expressed, 'As time goes by, more services in more cities in Australia and around the world are on the way as part of my department's mission to deliver dignity for South Africans, no matter where they live in the world.' Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Home Affairs is dramatically improving the quality of services for citizens abroad. Today we launched a new facility in Sydney that cuts turnaround times for passports and birth certificates from 18 months to 5 weeks. More services in more cities around the world, on the way! 🇿🇦 — Leon Schreiber (@Leon_Schreib) July 16, 2025 Approximately 214 790 South African-born people were living in Australia at the end of June 2023. This makes the South African-born population the seventh-largest migrant community in Australia. They represent 2.6% of Australia's overseas-born population and 0.8% of the total population. During his visit, Schreiber also convened with his Australian counterpart, Minister Tony Burke, to discuss crucial elements regarding Home Affairs reform that touch on security, economic growth, and social cohesion. This pivotal meeting explored opportunities for collaboration, particularly concerning Australia's Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) system and the automated processes for border entry and exit that South Africa aims to adopt soon. Schreiber also recently announced plans for a comprehensive digital visa system that will become mandatory for anyone wishing to enter South Africa. He stated, 'No person will be able to enter South Africa without first obtaining a digital visa through the ETA,' signalling a dramatic shift in immigration management within the nation. The ETA is set to be rolled out by the end of September, coinciding with the G20 leaders' summit, marking a significant milestone in South Africa's approach to immigration. 'The endpoint of all of these reforms,' Schreiber added, 'is to enable both South Africans and legitimate visitors to apply for and obtain enabling documents online, including in digital format, from the comfort of their own homes.' Such improvements aim to enhance efficiency and reduce corruption within the existing paper-based system, ensuring that South African expatriates receive streamlined service, no matter where they may be.
Zawya
a day ago
- Business
- Zawya
Visa reforms herald new era for South Africa's business events sector
South Africa's business events and creative industries are set to benefit from the introduction of two new visa categories aimed at improving international access to the country's exhibitions, conferences and film projects. Minister of Home Affairs Leon Schreiber recently announced the new Screen Talent and Global Entertainment Scheme (STAGES) and Meetings, Events, Exhibitions and Tourism Scheme (MEETS), intended to address longstanding visa bottlenecks for international participants from key growth markets. The announcement has been welcomed by RX Africa, organiser of major events including World Travel Market (WTM) Africa, ILTM Africa and FAME Week Africa, which for years faced challenges bringing buyers and exhibitors from countries like China, India, the UAE, Nigeria, Ghana and Ethiopia. "This announcement is particularly significant for our international exhibitions," says Carol Weaving from RX Africa. "The new visa schemes will dramatically ease travel for our visitors and help us bring hosted buyers from around the globe. "We've seen particular challenges with key markets such as the UAE, China, India, Nigeria, Ghana, and Ethiopia, markets we hope to see grow significantly for tourism exhibitors at WTM Africa and ILTM Africa. This ultimately helps us expand our hosted buyer programme and attract more international exhibitors, benefiting the entire local industry." The move also promises direct benefits for niche programmes like RX Africa's China Ready Workshop, aimed at growing South African tourism's share of the Chinese outbound market. "China's improved access will also significantly benefit our China Ready Workshop (taking place at WTM Africa next year), helping South African tourism businesses better connect with this crucial source market," adds Weaving. Visa delays blamed for lost investment South Africa's visa restrictions have had well-documented economic consequences in the events and film production sectors. In his budget address, Schreiber confirmed the loss of a major R400m Netflix production from Mexico due to visa delays — one of several missed opportunities. The country's film sector contributed R7.2bn to GDP in 2019/2020, a figure impacted by the pandemic and subsequent administrative challenges. Countries like Canada and Georgia have demonstrated the value of streamlined visa and incentive policies, generating R155bn and a 250% production increase, respectively, through proactive reforms. Global MICE market implications The new visa reforms are also expected to strengthen South Africa's position in the global business events sector. Europe continues to dominate the MICE market with seamless access through Schengen visas, while Dubai has built a MICE hub on the back of simplified business travel processes. "For years, we've watched destinations like Dubai, London and Las Vegas capture major international events that South Africa could easily host, simply because they made it easier for people to get there," says Weaving. "Europe holds 50% of the global MICE market largely due to seamless cross-border access through Schengen visas, while Dubai has become the Middle East's premier MICE destination through streamlined business visas. With these reforms, South Africa can finally compete on equal footing with these global powerhouses." Martin Hiller, portfolio director for FAME Week Africa, says the changes will have an equally transformative impact on creative industries: "The launch of the STAGES and MEETS visa schemes is a game-changer for South Africa's creative economy. For too long, red tape has held us back from realising our full potential as a global hub for film, fashion, music, and large-scale events." Faster digital processing welcomed Both visa schemes will be managed through an online application process, with approvals promised within hours — a long-awaited improvement for organisers who've struggled with administrative delays. 'These reforms signal that South Africa is finally ready to compete on the global stage for international events and productions,' concludes Weaving. 'We look forward to working with government to ensure successful implementation and to leveraging these tools to grow South Africa's position as Africa's premier destination for world-class exhibitions, conferences, and creative productions.' All rights reserved. © 2022. Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (
IOL News
a day ago
- Politics
- IOL News
How illegal immigration and cross-border crime threaten South Africa's future
Minister of Home Affairs, Dr Leon Schreiber, whose department is at the centre of enforcing immigration laws. Image: Parliament of SA South Africa is being hollowed out by illegal immigration and cross-border crimes such as human trafficking, drug smuggling, arms trafficking, vehicle theft, livestock theft, and illicit goods, among others, stemming from porous borders, according to experts. However, the biggest source of porosity comes from state actors, such as immigration officers, the military, and border policing, who are being corrupted and taking bribes from criminal syndicates, and allowing illicit goods into the country. Willem Els, a senior training coordinator in the ENACT organised crime programme at the Institute for Security Studies (ISS), said South African borders are some of the most porous in the region, and there is a whole illicit economy centred around illegal immigration that is being facilitated by the porosity of the country's borders. 'In South Africa, our land borders are extremely porous. Illegal cigarettes, counterfeit goods, and drugs mostly come through official borders at the Lebombo bridge and so on. At the ports of entry in airports, some immigration officials are corrupt and taking bribes from criminal syndicates. For instance, when people come into the country, they have passports. And whenever you have a passport, it must be scanned and registered in the system to record that someone has come to South Africa. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Ad Loading 'But the corrupt officials take the passport and stamp it. After taking the money, they don't scan the passport, which leaves the country with no record of that person entering South Africa. So, it is that type of corruption that is eating away our livelihood because of the crime issue that is affecting everyone, and it's really hurting the economy,' Els said. He warned that the illicit economy is growing so large that it might one day even exceed the formal economy in some areas, which would harm the country and the economy because no taxes are being collected from the illicit economy. The tax can only be collected from the formal economy. The taxes are paid for the poor and other services. These people are coming here and benefiting from everything without contributing, and they are taking the money out of South Africa and sending it back to their countries. This is draining our economy, Els said. 'Also, if you are a terrorist and you are meant to be on the watch list of the Interpol, etc., you are not going to use a normal port to run, you are going to cross the river. So, we don't know how many terrorists are in South Africa, because we don't have the record of that. The only way you can have records is if records are officially captured. 'If you look at the illegal migration people, many of them are of military age. The Ethiopians, for instance, quite a few of them were arrested in South Africa in the past year, more than 100 at the time. The challenge is that these individuals pose a threat due to their military background. 'We know nothing about them because it has not been captured. So it creates a real uncertainty environment within law enforcement if we don't have all those facts. It's creating challenges for us because we cannot pre-empt any threat, and also when we have to react to a threat, we still don't know what we are faced with,' Els said. He added that what has been found with the arrested illegal immigrants, especially from Ethiopia, is that it takes them up to three months, sometimes three years, to reach South Africa. Some walk to South Africa. Some pay up to $12 000 (just over R200,000) to the syndicates to smuggle them into South Africa. And then just before they reach South Africa, they are ambushed and all their passports and their money and everything stolen, and then they are trafficked into South Africa, and sold by these criminal syndicates to work in illicit jobs or forced into the sex industry. In an African context, many illegal migrants come from Zimbabwe, but some originate from Sudan, Somalia, and other countries. So, we can't just look at the Southern African Development Community; we have to look at the rest of Africa and enforce our regional cooperation with them to curb this problem. So, there is a whole illicit economy centred around illegal immigration, but all that is being facilitated by the porosity of our borders, he added. According to the recent Numbeo Crime Index, South Africa is the most crime-affected country on the African continent, with a crime index score of 74.7, and ranked fifth in the world. Els said criminality is through the roof, and it is also reflected in the crime statistics. 'So we are not saying that all the crimes are committed by foreigners, but when you are South African, you have an ID or driver's licence, and your biometrics are captured, including fingerprints. However, with the undocumented foreign nationals, we don't have anything. Whenever the police are investigating, they use physical evidence like fingerprints or something like that, but with undocumented foreigners, police have got nowhere to go, and that is a problem when investigating criminal cases where foreign nationals are involved,' he said. But why such a large influx of illegal immigrants to South Africa? Els said most people on the African continent see South Africa as the land of milk and honey, and yet 'we' all know what the situation is with the jobs and unemployment in this country. 'South Africa has got the infrastructure, a developed system, and all things that make it conducive for growth for people who work to make money, and also for the criminals to come to South Africa and exploit our systems to launder money, etc. 'The problem with illegal immigrants is that once the people are in the country, they become that country's problem. If we cannot prevent them from coming into the country, it is now entirely our problem. So, we allow them to become our challenges, and then this costs money, costs effort,' he said. Els added that political will is crucial to stop porous borders, along with a better coordination strategy with other state entities, sufficient budget, capacity building (human capital, ensuring people are trained), and investing in technology. 'We need to tackle corruption as the number one enemy. We can have a comprehensive counter-corruption strategy with consequences; people found guilty of corruption must be fired or receive a warning. We should come down hard on corruption. There should be consequences. Corrupt officials should serve jail time,' Els said. He added that Dr Leon Schreiber, minister of Home Affairs, has demonstrated political will to curb these problems since taking office over a year ago. Actions such as Operation New Broom have been promising through utilising technology for enhanced enforcement of immigration issues, digitisation, and biometric data, while not circumventing suspects' rights. He said that it will take a long time, effort, money, and hard work to turn the ship around because the problem has reached high levels. Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma, founder of March and March civic organisation, whose members have embarked on nationwide protests blocking illegal immigrants from accessing services in public healthcare facilities, saying that the government is not prioritising its citizens, said the government is not serious about fighting illegal immigration. The South African Human Rights Commission criticised the protests. 'If the government is serious about fighting illegal immigration, it must seal the borders and do mass deportations. One thing that is going to make sure that everyone who is not here has no opportunity to abuse our system and our country is to close all the taps, in terms of schooling, medical care, jobs, and all other services. South Africans must take priority. 'Illegal immigrants must go to the private sector healthcare facilities, pay, and take care of themselves. If this is to be effected, there will never be people rushing to this country if they know that there are strict laws. The government must also put stringent laws on employers who are employing undocumented foreigners, and there must be a hefty penalty, like taking away operating licences, jail time, etc,' Ngobese-Zuma said. The Institute of Race Relations (IRR) called on the government to get back to basics, secure its borders, and protect the country from external forces, as porous borders are a symptom of the abdication of this responsibility. Makone Maja, IRR's strategic engagements manager, said South Africans' frustrations with the presence of illegal immigrants seem to be closely linked to the lack of economic growth, job opportunities, and improvement in government services. 'The mounting pressures on social services from health to education, and the sense from disgruntled citizens that more services would be catered to them if they weren't being shared with illegal foreigners. 'The government's neglect of enforcing the immigration laws has also led to this frustration and the itch for communities to take the law into their own hands. This also need not be. Any democratic government's first duty is to secure its borders and protect its country from external forces,' Maja said. A request for comment was sent to the Department of Home Affairs over a week ago, but there was no response. Reminders were also ignored.
The South African
3 days ago
- Business
- The South African
Home Affairs has great news for South Africans living in Australia
South Africa's Department of Home Affairs has launched two new dedicated service centres in Sydney and Melbourne to assist South Africans living in Australia with Smart ID and passport applications. The move is part of the department's Home Affairs @ Home initiative, designed to reduce turnaround times for critical identity documents from over a year to just five weeks . Speaking about the expansion, Minister Leon Schreiber said the launch follows a successful trial in the United Kingdom and is aimed at eliminating long delays that have left many overseas South Africans frustrated. Sydney : 16 July 2025 at 10:00 (AEST) 📍 Level 6, 88 Pitt Street, Sydney, NSW 2000 : 📍 Level 6, 88 Pitt Street, Sydney, NSW 2000 Melbourne: 18 July 2025 at 13:00 (AEST) 📍 Level 5, 332 St Kilda Road, Melbourne, VIC 3004 Australia is home to over 210 000 South African expats, making it the second-largest community outside of South Africa, after the United Kingdom. The department also confirmed further rollouts in New Zealand and the UAE, followed by France, Germany, and the Netherlands later in 2025, and North America in 2026. This is part of the department's broader push to phase out the green barcoded ID book and transition all citizens to the more secure Smart ID card by 2029. The expansion also aligns with Home Affairs' plan to enable Smart ID and passport services at over 100 bank branches by year-end – with a goal of reaching 1 000 branches by 2028. Let us know by leaving a comment below, or send a WhatsApp to 060 011 021 1 Subscribe to The South African website's newsletters and follow us on WhatsApp, Facebook, X and Bluesky for the latest news.
The Citizen
4 days ago
- Politics
- The Citizen
If you are in South Africa illegally, self-deport now, warns Home Affairs
'We want to send a strong message to all who are illegally residing and working in the country that we are coming for them' Operation New Broom in Roodepoort in Gauteng on 7 July 2025. Picture: Home Affairs/X Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber has warned those in South Africa without proper documentation to self-deport before his department reaches them. On Friday, Schreiber led Operation New Broom to conduct its first immigration enforcement raids in Nelson Mandela Bay. The operation led to the arrest for deportation of 95 illegal immigrants. Numerous operations have already been conducted in Cape Town and Pretoria. ALSO READ: Tip-off leads police to at least 90 illegal foreigners in abandoned Houghton property The latest operation took place in the Gqeberha Central Business District, where, according to Schreiber, a dilapidated warehouse was found to be housing numerous illegal foreigners. A Chinese-owned business was also found to be in contravention of a range of immigration laws. The Department will be in court today to confirm the deportation orders. 'Operation New Broom demonstrates our commitment to work in a focused manner to restore the rule of law. 'Our message to people who are in our country illegally is clear: voluntarily self-deport now, before Home Affairs deports you and bans you from entering South Africa altogether,' warned the home affairs minister. Gauteng operation On Monday, 7 July, Deputy Home Affairs Minister Njabulo Nzuza led Operation New Broom in Roodepoort in Gauteng. The operation followed a tip-off from a community member. ALSO READ: SA taxi driver nabbed attempting to smuggle 25 illegal foreigners, gets R375k fine 'We encourage citizens to continue reporting suspected illegal activities. It would have been difficult for anyone to suspect that unlawful activities were taking place here because the managers and workers live and sleep in the factory,' said Nzuza. 'We want to send a strong message to all who are illegally residing and working in the country that we are coming for them. We found 21 illegal foreign nationals from Malawi, China and Zimbabwe. One Malawian had a visitor's visa but was found working in contravention of the conditions of his visa. All the arrested people are being processed for deportation.' Home Affairs' Operation New Broom Home Affairs launched Operation New Broom in May, as part of the department's drive to intensify enforcement operations in urban hotspots. The operation seeks to arrest, convict and deport illegal immigrants occupying public spaces. ALSO READ: Home Affairs committee raises alarm over border authority underfunding The first operation took place in District 6 in Cape Town, where 25 suspects were arrested while occupying land meant for restitution to the victims of forced removals. The operation utilises biometric technology to verify the immigration status of suspects, thereby eliminating the risk of fraudulent documents and strengthening legal cases. 'The benefits of our commitment to digital transformation are being felt across all areas of Home Affairs' mandate, including through the strides made by the Border Management Authority at the borders and by Home Affairs inland,' said the minister. 'As with everything else we do, Operation New Broom is guided by our commitment to the rule of law. It is this commitment that both motivates us to do more to combat illegality, and to uphold due process and legal compliance in the process.' READ NEXT: Schreiber explains persistent ICT failures plaguing home affairs offices
