Director-General Mkuseli Apleni: Implementation of Immigration Regulations
24 Jun 2015
Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to welcome you all to the Home Affairs media briefing on the implementation of the immigration amendments and regulations (see BDLive report).
We would have preferred to present this update particularly dealing with statistics arising from implementation, at the end of the month. However, given the volume of reports and speculation in the public discourse, we thought it prudent to convene this briefing. This session should therefore assist in clarifying some of the issues raised.
You would by now be conversant with the rationale for the amendments to the immigration legislation and the new regulations. Some reports say changes to South Africa’s immigration legislation came into operation on 1 June 2015. This we need to correct.
The Immigration Amendment Acts, 2007 and 2011 and the Immigration Regulations, 2014 came into operation on 26 May 2014. This was meant to manage immigration in a manner that balances South Africa’s openness to travellers with development and security imperatives.