Since Leon Schreiber took over as South Africa’s new minister of home affairs, staff have managed to clear one-third of the backlog of 306,000 visa applications.

In a podcast interview with Moneyweb this week, Schrieber said a team had been working around the clock to clear the backlog: ‘We started out with over 306,000 applications and we’ve cracked 100,000 now.’ He said it was a key priority to get the backlog out of the way and ‘give ourselves breathing space to reform the way the system operates.’

In the meantime, Schreiber has extended the temporary concession for foreign nationals who are awaiting the outcome of visa, waiver and appeal applications.

🔗 Moneyweb