DA has issued out a proposal to have illegal foreign nationals, given a chance to leave and re-enter South Africa, or be given a chance to apply for a visa. Gwen Ngwenya, the party’s head of policy has put forward several proposals on migration this week.

The DA mentioned its migration policy is anchored on three pillars: free movement of people, economic participation of migrants and addressing harmful myths about foreign nationals. “A critical proposal is to provide an amnesty period for all undocumented migrants. Giving them an opportunity to either return to their home and attempt to re-enter legally, without prejudice, or to apply for the relevant visa from within SA,” said Ngwenya.

“Why should foreign nationals not be given amnesty when home affairs does not have their act together? Just like driver’s licences, a punitive approach risks lumping the innocent along with those who had no intention of following the rules.”

She said the proposed policy offered practical interventions which include:

• Implementation of an advanced migration registry system to properly document all migrants when entering or leaving the country;
• Move to a points-based skilled migration system as opposed to a skills-demand system, as the points-based system has proven to be more attractive to aspiring skilled migrants in other parts of the world;
• Explore the economic cost vs benefit of an e-verification system that would enable employers to check the work eligibility status of potential employees;
• Blacklist officials who have been found guilty of involvement in migration corruption and fraud from working for any state agency or government department and lay criminal charges, and;
• Introduce a trader’s permit/visa for all other African countries.

“The DA will be taking additional steps over the next few months to ensure proposals contained in our migration policy become part of the wider national debate on immigration reform,” said Ngwenya.