THE peak travel season is nearly
here, and travel professionals
fear that Home Affairs’ attempt to
alleviate congestion at major airports
caused by biometric capturing will do
little to prevent the pending chaos.
The Board of Airline Representatives
South Africa (Barsa) recently made
an appeal to the DHA to suspend
biometric capturing at airports
during the peak season because of
the lengthy delays experienced by
travellers as a result of a shortage of
trained immigration officials.
But, the DHA has no such plans
nor is it authorised to employ more
immigration officials to cope with the
numbers expected.
Instead, director general
Mkuseli Apleni says the department
will look at extending the opening
hours at some ports of entry to 24
hours. He also said that at certain
ports such as OR Tambo International,
additional staff would be redeployed
from areas where they are not busy
in order to help existing capacity cope
with the extended hours.
Ultimately the plan is for the airport
to operate with a full staff complement
and all counters open from around
December 8 to January 10.
June Crawford, ceo of Barsa, says
that should all 80 plus immigration
stations at OR Tambo be manned for
24 hours throughout the peak travel
period, then the measures planned
by Home Affairs should alleviate the
problem. She says it is unclear
where the manpower will come from.
The Tourism Business Council of
South Africa’s (TBCSA) is investigating
opportunities where it can intervene
over the short term. Ceo, Mmatsatsi
Ramawela, told TNW that even if
this involves monetary assistance to
employ more immigration officials, the
TBCSA believes it can mobilise its
members. But, at a meeting between
the TBCSA and DHA, the two bodies
were unable to agree.
UBC debacle
Meanwhile, the November 30
deadline originally set for the pilot
of the printing of parents’ details in
children’s passports (see TNW August
3) will not be met. The DG could not
confirm when exactly the project would
now be piloted. He says people should
not apply for new passports for their
children as this would see the Home
Affairs office inundated, but should
only apply if their child’s passport is
no longer valid.
Although the DHA has now
replaced the name “unabridged birth
certificate” with “birth certificate” in
the immigration regulations, effective
November 1, Apleni stresses nothing
has changed procedurally. Thus, a
birth certificate with both parents’
names on is acceptable.
June says that as long as the
birth certificate requirement is up
to the discretion of immigration
officials as mentioned in the draft
regulations, Barsa will
continue to advise its
members to check that
passengers travelling with
minors have birth certificates.
The TBCSA has been invited
to share its recommendations
on the UBC requirement
with the Immigration
Advisory Board. Though
the Council is still working
on this, Mmatsatsi says
she is encouraged by the
Department’s willingness
to listen.
