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Foreigners have been able to buy their way into South Africa on fake documents with the help of home affairs officials who treated the visa system like an open marketplace, according to the Special Investigating Unit (SIU).The findings were part of a presentation the SIU gave to parliament’s portfolio committee on higher education on Wednesday, mainly covering its investigations into universities and colleges. However, part of the presentation was an update on a separate investigation into the department of home affairs.The probe was launched under Proclamation 154 of 2024, which authorises the SIU to investigate how the department issues permanent residence permits, corporate visas, business visas, critical and exceptional skills work visas, study visas, retired persons’ visas, work visas and citizenship by naturalisation. It also covers the installation of T200 firewalls at the department.Investigators said they have uncovered “a co-ordinated study visa fraud system inside home affairs, where corrupt officials helped approve applications backed by fake acceptance letters and other fraudulent documents”.The SIU said the process was “treated like a marketplace”, with applications fast-tracked through inside contacts and money paid to officials or to their spouses and businesses to make it happen. The payments were moved through EFT transfers, cash send and ATM deposits.According to the SIU, the scheme typically worked as follows: fake or inflated acceptance letters were produced by schools or colleges, some of which were not even properly registered or were not involved in the applications at all. Those would then be pushed through home affairs via WhatsApp or other informal channels for quick approval, with bribes paid in cash, through e-wallets, or into accounts linked to officials’ spouses to disguise the corruption.Some officials reportedly used side channels and dummy phones to avoid being detected.The SIU said foreigners were routinely able to obtain study visas by submitting fraudulent supporting documents, including letters confirming registration at institutions of higher learning, fake medical certificates, forged radiologist certificates, fraudulent medical aid membership numbers and falsified criminal record verifications.The SIU also found that home affairs adjudicators failed to verify or simply overlooked the fraudulent documents before granting the visas. Once in the country, many of the foreigners did not attend the colleges or universities named in their applications at all. Instead, the SIU found that they opened businesses that went on to receive millions of rand, some of which was paid back to department officials.Nonexistent institutionsIn some cases, the acceptance letters used to support applications came from institutions that had never accepted the applicant in the first place. Other letters were traced to institutions that are not registered with the department of higher education at all, and in some instances, the SIU found the institutions named did not exist.The SIU found that once a study visa expires, many foreigners apply to change their status to a different temporary visa, such as a retired person’s visa or a visitor’s visa, to stay in the country. Others simply remain in South Africa without a visa once their study permit lapses.Among the more unusual findings, the SIU flagged what it called an abuse of the retirement visa category, pointing to cases of foreigners as young as 21 applying for permits meant for retirees.Applicants for a retirement visa are required to show proof of income of R35,000, but the SIU found the department does not monitor this requirement once the visa has been issued. Investigators also found cases of fraudulent bank statements being used by pastors and other foreigners to meet the income threshold and secure the visas.Abuse of asylum systemThe SIU also raised concerns about the asylum system being used as a back door into permanent residence and eventually citizenship, with home affairs officials allegedly soliciting bribes to process aslyum seekers’ applications. In one troubling detail, the SIU said senior officials had used their personal assistants’ email addresses to facilitate the processing of asylum seeker applications — a link the unit says is still being investigated.The SIU raised several further red flags in its observations to the committee. These included the issuing of blank corporate visas, which it said are open to manipulation and fraud, identity fraud used to obtain South African passports for use in committing crimes abroad, and a lack of any monitoring of visa holders once their permits have been issued.The most alarming was a finding relating to DNA testing, which the SIU described as “swapping and/or manipulation of the DNA to favour the foreign nationals to obtain” permanent residence permits, a matter the SIU says will require a new proclamation to investigate fully.The SIU said its work at home affairs has so far led to seven disciplinary referrals against departmental officials and 278 referrals to the National Prosecuting Authority for possible criminal prosecution.A further 205 administrative referrals have been made to the department, recommending the revocation of study visas and the deportation of those implicated. One systemic recommendation has also been made to help close the gaps that allowed the alleged fraud to happen, while 111 matters have already been closed through a memorandum of closure.The investigation continues, and the SIU has not named any of the officials or foreigners implicated in the alleged syndicate.TimesLIVE
