Following the recent spate of xenophobic attacks and Operation Fiela that has seen thousands of foreigners being repatriated; residents of Melville and Bryanston came together and collected supplies for displaced xenophobia victims. The South Africa Government intervened and xenophobia stopped and it began sourcing solutions to immigration problems.
The Department of Home Affairs (DHA) has since announced its partnership with Gauteng Provincial Government’s Gauteng Growth and Development Agency (GGDA), and Visa Facilitation Services to improve service delivery and serve corporate clients at the DHA Premium Visa and Permit Services Centre in Sandton.
Home Affairs is acutely aware of the importance of immigration management to South Africa’s economic development, in facilitating the entry into South Africa of skilled workers and investors, according to Minister of Home Affairs Malusi Gigaba.
According to the department, the National Development Plan (NDP) explicitly identifies the importance of immigration management in this regard.
“We support GGDA’s efforts to offer a ‘one stop shop’ to prospective investors and exporters to fulfil administrative requirements, improving ease of doing business in Gauteng,” he said.
He added that the department is conscious that corporate accounts clients require a specific value proposition.
“They require professional immigration advisory services, reduced turnaround times, and certainty of a predictable outcome.”
Through this initiative, corporate accounts clients and their families will be able to “get the best of both worlds” at the centre as they will be able to apply for and collect visas, permits, waivers and exemptions with the VFS staff.
“As part of the unique value proposition, we are creating for corporate clients, we will offer reduced turnarounds of four weeks for a decision for most visas.”
These are large businesses, organisations, and employers who are accredited with the Corporate Accounts Unit based on specific criteria.
These criteria include:
- The number of visas required in key positions
- National priorities, and relevance of the visa requested to the development of national infrastructure
- Proof that at least 60 per cent of the total staff complement are South Africans
“Working together, we can realise the call of the National Development Plan to adopt a more open approach to skilled immigration to expand the supply of high skills in the short term, in a manner that obviates displacement of South Africans.”
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