Marion Edmunds
FEAR of the arbitrary powers of the secretive Immigration Board is preventing a public outcry about the way Home Affairs officials process applications by foreigners for work, study or residence permits in South Africa.
And for the first time the Transvaal Law Society convened a “desperation” meeting with officials this week to tackle Home Affairs with what they deem is its “unconstitutional stance.”
The Law Society is also discussing the implementation of the Aliens Control Amendment Act which, from May 1, will force all non- South Africans seeking work permits to leave the country and make their applications through South African embassies in their countries of origin.
Numerous frustrated immigration lawyers and foreigners have complained to the Mail & Guardian about the “cloak and dagger operations” in Home Affairs, off the record, but nobody is prepared to take a public stand for fear of prejudicing the Immigration Board when they next need a favour, or an application processed.
The Immigration Board — the body which decides whether or not applications for work, study or residence permits should be rejected — is a shadowy entity, shrouded in mystery. Nobody, not even lawyers who specialise in immigration, knows who sits on this powerful board whose power is enhanced by the fact that it does not believe it neccessary to give reasons for the decisions it takes.
Home Affairs also refused to give the M&G names of the members of the Immigration Board.
Legal Advisor to Home Affairs Attie Tredoux has confirmed there are no hard and fast rules that govern the processing of applications.
“There is wide scope for discretion. We might give reasons for a rejection of a work permit if the person has lived here for a while, but if an alien is knocking on the door for the first time, there is no reason to do so.”
This lays Home Affairs wide open to corruption, with officials in a position to take bribes to further certain applications at the expense of others. An insider said this week: “Of all departments in this country, Home Affairs is the most fraught with malpractice.”
This practice of withholding reasons for decisions is being contested by the Transvaal Law Society which claims that it is unconstitutional for the Home Affairs Department to withhold such information from anyone.
While a delegation from the Law Society met Home Affairs officials this week to discuss this and other problems, insiders say the Immigration Board often does not do its work properly and bases its decision on the arbitrary advice of ignorant officials.
The board is meant to be guided by the principle that foreigners cannot be given work permits for jobs which South Africans are competent to do. It is suspected many officials are not in a position to evaluate whether an applicant has extraordinary skills or not.
Lawyers are concerned that new regulations which will force applicants to leave the country to renew their work permits means they will forfeit all rights they have by leaving South Africa.
The Democratic Party’s Douglas Gibson said this week: “I am finding it increasingly difficult to discern a rational policy relating to work permits and the admissions of people to South Africa. While on the one hand, more than three million people — most of whom arrived here as illegal immigrants — have been admitted to the country and are being given rights. Most of this group are unqualified with few skills and they do not increase the tax base. On the other hand, highly qualified applicants are being turned down for no good reason.”
Gibson was referring to a recent controversial decision by the Cabinet to accept illegal immigrants from neighbouring Southern African countries who have lived here for more than five years as legal citizens.