Home affairs minister Malusi Gigaba said his department will this year introduce an electronic visa application system in order to curb fraudulent permits from foreign nationals.
Gigaba, speaking last week in the national council of provinces, said in response to a question from Democratic Alliance Eastern Cape MP Leon Magwebu on what the department was doing to address the weaknesses that lead to foreign nationals being in the country on fraudulent permits: “During the course of the year, we are going to introduce a number of initiatives. One of them is the electronic applications for visas and for a number of other permits to the country.
“That will enable the applicant to obtain information electronically and submit their applications and the documentation to support their applications electronically,” he said.
The minister said the initiative will remove the need for the department to provide frontline services that tend to stretch government’s capacity. He said the initiative will also pave way for a centralised adjudication system to allow the department to take decisions quickly in terms of people’s applications.
“But we further intend to introduce an amendment to the legislation which is going to enable the department to have an independent citizenship advisory board.
“But this is only for those who are applying for citizenship once all other processes have been followed in terms of the letter of the law. So, all of these initiatives are going to be introduced during the course of the year,” he said. — SANews
