Law clinics under pressure from asylum seekers
Law clinics are overwhelmed with queries from asylum seekers blocked from accessing SA’s asylum system.
Asylum seekers 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 SA.
There are five such offices: Durban, Musina, Pretoria, Cape Town and Port Elizabeth.
However, reports GroundUp, since April 2024, 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 that only 91 asylum transit visas had been issued to asylum seekers between 2022 and March 2024.
Amendments to the Refugee Act, implemented in April 2024, require asylum seekers without valid transit visas to undergo an interview during which they must show good cause for not having a valid transit visa.
But practically no one is being found to have good cause, effectively blocking access to all asylum seekers who do not have valid transit visas, according to James Chapman, the Scalabrini Centre’s head of advocacy and legal adviser.
In May this year, the Western Cape High Court found that the transit visa requirement and ‘good cause’ interview were unconstitutional.
The case was brought by Scalabrini and Lawyers for Human Rights. The findings still need to be confirmed by the Constitutional Court.
In the meantime, the ‘good cause’ requirement is still being implemented, notes GroundUp.
‘There’s thousands of undocumented people at the moment because the office is not accepting new applicants, which causes a ripple effect,’ said Shazia Sader, an attorney with UCT’s Refugee Rights Clinic, which helps about 5 000 refugees and asylum seekers a year navigate SA’s complex asylum system.
The clinic is pursuing strategic litigation to address the problem.
Chapman suggested that asylum seekers without a transit visa carry a document issued by the Scalabrini Centre stating their declaration of intention to apply for asylum, as well as a copy of a 2024 court order preventing the deportation of asylum seekers.
People can also approach the courts on their own to try to access the asylum system, he said.
Article disclaimer: While we have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of this article, it is not intended to provide final legal advice as facts and situations will differ from case to case, and therefore specific legal advice should be sought with a lawyer.
