IMMIGRATION AMENDMENT BILL TO BE TABLED SOON

IMMIGRATION AMENDMENT BILL TO BE TABLED SOON

• 19 March 2024
• Home Affairs
• SA Legal Academy

An explanatory summary of the Immigration Amendment Bill has been gazetted, pointing to its imminent introduction in Parliament. This follows Cabinet’s approval of the Bill for tabling, as well as a ministerial determination prescribing procedures to be followed when detaining an illegal foreigner pending the Bill’s enactment.

According to a media statement on the Cabinet meeting at which the Bill was approved, its purpose is to give effect to Constitutional Court judgments delivered on 29 June 2017 and 30 October 2023. In terms of these rulings, the principal statute must be amended to ensure that any illegal foreigner detained under section 34(1):

• ‘is brought before a court in person, within 48 hours from the time of his or her arrest’, enabling
• ‘the court to determine whether it is in the interests of justice to order further detention, for purposes of deportation’.

To that end, the Bill addresses gaps in ‘the interests of justice criterion’ to be applied by immigration officers and the courts.

• explanatory summary
• Cabinet media statement
• ministerial determination
• October 2023 Constitutional Court judgment

Published by SA Legal Academy Policy Watch

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