We have previously highlighted the issue of the significant delays that are presently being experienced with the processing of all visa applications. This delay has been blamed on the centralization of visa processing where all visa applications are now sent to Head Office for processing, and are not processed at the South African Embassy where they were submitted.

Whilst they were still processed by the relevant embassy visa applications typically took about 4 – 6 weeks to be processed. Since they were centralized it has become impossible to predict how long a visa application will take to be processed, and processing times in excess of 9 months are now being experienced.

This issue has now been highlighted by the French Trade Advisors. France has pledged to invest R 50 billion in South Africa. Whilst almost all of the persons employed for these investment projects are South Africans it is crucial that France is able to bring in persons with specialized skills and qualifications to also work on these projects, specifically persons such as process engineers and financial experts. However with the extremely long processing times presently being experienced it has meant that these persons have not been able to get visas allowing them to work in South Africa resulting in a skills shortage on the investment projects.

The French Trade Advisors have warned that should the slow processing of visa applications persist then it could put the foreign investment at risk as French multinational companies will look to invest elsewhere. It furthermore could also lead to disinvestment in South Africa as it makes doing business in South Africa too difficult. They have accordingly called upon the Department of Home Affairs to address the issue as a matter of priority.