NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
FOR WRITTEN REPLY
QUESTION 209
DATE OF PUBLICATION: Friday, 28 February 2014
INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER NO 4 of 2014
Mr M Mnqasela (DA) to ask the Minister of Home Affairs:
What is being done to (a) improve and (b) speed up the processing of travel
documents for tourists?
NW258E
REPLY:
It must be clarified that the Department does not issue travel documents,
as defined in legislation, to tourists. However, it does issue visas and
permits to tourists who derive from countries that are not visa-exempt. The
Department has a temporary residence backlog team which is working off all
applications that are older than 8 months. It is envisaged that these
applications will be finalised by the end of the current financial year.
Additional resources have been allocated to this unit and a new
adjudication process has been implemented.
The Department will implement further improvements at front offices on 01
June 2014 to cut on the time it takes for the applications to reach the
adjudication hub at Head Office in Pretoria.