The Department of Home Affairs plans to launch an online asylum registration and appointment system by 10 November as government seeks to ease pressure on refugee reception offices and manage applications more efficiently.

Thembelihle Mabanga

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The Department of Home Affairs is expected to introduce an online platform for asylum seekers by 10 November, allowing them to register their intention to seek asylum and book appointments at refugee reception offices.

Justice and Constitutional Development Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi, who chairs the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Migration, announced the planned system on Sunday.

Under the new process, applicants will register online and receive an electronic receipt containing their personal details, biometric information, a reference number and an appointment date.

The receipt will not constitute a Section 22 asylum seeker visa or confer refugee status. However, it will serve as proof that an individual has declared an intention to seek asylum and activate protection against being returned to a country where they could face persecution or other serious harm.

Officials, including members of the Border Management Authority, have been instructed not to arrest, detain or deport individuals solely because they lack an asylum seeker visa if they possess a valid receipt while their applications are being processed.

The department will also provide assisted registration at refugee reception offices. People held in police or immigration detention will be able to seek help from officials, legal representatives and civil society organisations.

The announcement follows the withdrawal of a directive issued on 28 September, which instructed Home Affairs offices to accept asylum applications from people who entered South Africa irregularly or had not met previous procedural requirements.

The directive sought to give effect to a Constitutional Court ruling in the Scalabrini Centre of Cape Town case. The judgment struck down provisions that restricted access to the asylum system on procedural grounds.

Its implementation was followed by a surge in applications at refugee reception offices, placing additional pressure on the department's facilities. Anti-immigration protests in Soweto and Durban later escalated into violence, with vehicles set alight and businesses targeted. Authorities have reported 30 arrests linked to the unrest.

Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber said the planned platform would build on existing digital systems, including biometric capture and verification technology used in the Electronic Travel Authorisation process.

Government is also preparing to approach the courts for a supervisory order and potentially a suspension period to give the department time to improve its administrative capacity while complying with the Constitutional Court ruling.

Deportations will continue for individuals who have not declared an intention to seek asylum, as well as those whose asylum applications have been finally rejected.

Kubayi said the approach aims to uphold South Africa's constitutional obligations while ensuring that asylum applications are handled in an orderly manner and responding to public concerns.