CITIZENSHIP, IMMIGRATION & REFUGEE PROTECTION: REVISED WHITE PAPER OUT FOR COMMENT

CITIZENSHIP, IMMIGRATION & REFUGEE PROTECTION: REVISED WHITE PAPER OUT FOR COMMENT

• 12 December 2025
• Home Affairs
• SA Legal Academy

The Department of Home Affairs has gazetted a draft revised White Paper on citizenship, immigration and refugee protection – calling for input by 31 January 2026. The initial version of these policy proposals was released in November 2023 for public comment, as SA Legal Academy reported at the time.

According to a media statement on the revised draft, reform proposals include:

• refining the ‘first safe country principle’ for asylum seekers (to prevent the practice of bypassing other safe countries and promote a more equitably shared ‘burden of migration’ in the region)
• merit-based naturalisation criteria
• ‘new visa categories for remote-work, start-ups, skilled workers … sports and culture’
• ‘the replacement of corporate visas with sectoral work visas for specific industries’, and
• ‘a new, merit-based points-based system for certain visas and permanent residency’.

Underpinned by Government of National Unity priorities, informed by the Operation Vulindlela visa review and incorporating the department’s ‘digital transformation agenda’, the draft revised White Paper’s overarching objectives are to:

• ‘reduce fraud and abuse’
• ‘enhance national security’
• ‘improve service delivery’, and
• ‘promote economic development’.

Please click the links below for more information:

• draft revised White Paper
• media statement
• November 2023 version

Published by SA Legal Academy Policy Watch

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