‘Thousands' denied asylum

PERMIT: FIVE DAYS TO APPLY IN PERSON WITH ONLY 91 TRANSIT VISAS ISSUED IN TWO YEARS >>> Refugee interviews and requirements 'unconstitutional'.

- Zora Hollie

Law clinics are overwhelmed with queries from asylum seekers blocked from accessing SA's asylum system.

The applicants are required to apply for an asylum seeker's permit - also known as a Section 22 permit - in person at a refugee reception office within five days of arriving in South Africa.

There are five such offices: Durban, Musina, Pretoria, Cape Town and Port Elizabeth.

However, since April last year, access to the asylum system has been restricted to only those who have a valid asylum transit visa, which is supposed to be issued at an official port of entry. The visa is valid for five days.

But many asylum seekers do not have valid transit visas because of irregular border crossings, a lack of awareness of the requirement, or because the visas expire before they can get to a reception office.

A parliamentary question to the minister of home affairs revealed only 91 asylum transit visas had been issued to asylum seekers between 2022 and March last year.