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Cape Town - The minister of home affairs Malusi Gigaba has announced changes to the implementation of South Africa's new visa rules.
While the contentious unabridged birth certificate for all children travelling to and within South Africa's borders has been postponed until 1 June 2015, the minister said the department would not budge on the requirement of having persons apply for a bio-metric visa in person.
Gigaba said it was not only about the "biometrics, but also to make sure that we know the intentions of person travelling".
He mentioned the example of people applying for visas to different countries using different names, stating that appearing in person will help curb this sort of irregularity.
A key concern with the new requirement however was lack of visa facilitation centres and the need to travel long distances in order to complete the application process - and how this would negatively impact inbound tourism to South Africa.
Tourism Update reports visitor numbers from China hav already shown a decline from October 2014, when the new unabridged birth certificate was initially meant to come into effect.
Minister of Tourism Derek Hanekom has previously stated that the department of tourism was in consultation with the department of home affairs and the issue was being addressed in major cities outside of Shanghai, Beijing, Deli and Mumbai for example.
“We need to find the right balance between appropriate measures to protect our boundaries, combat child trafficking and to do it in such a way that it has a minimal negative impact on tourism.”
China, India, Brazil - high volume source markets for SA - waiting for advice on best locations for visa application centres #visarules
— Traveller24_SA (@Traveller24_SA) September 16, 2014
About requirement to appear in person for biometric data: requirement is going to stay. No postponement #visarules
— Traveller24_SA (@Traveller24_SA) September 16, 2014
Not only about biometrics, but also to make sure that we know the intentions of person travelling.
— Traveller24_SA (@Traveller24_SA) September 16, 2014
Watch Gigaba's full press briefing below:
