Shock new ruling for foreign truck drivers

With SA work permits in mind, the department of home affairs has just come up with a ruling that from June 1 will make it more difficult for foreign truck drivers to enter the country on delivery trips from overborder states. “The previous arrangement was that foreign drivers would be allowed to enter the country on a visitor’s visa for 30 days, do what they needed to do and then leave,” said Leon Isaacson, MD of Global Migration SA. But now, foreign drivers on a foreign-registered truck will have to carry the required documentation with them, and apply at the border post for a visitor’s permit with permission to work (probably for 30 days). “If the correct documentation is not presented,” said Isaacson, “the permit will not be issued and the driver will not be allowed to proceed across the border into SA.” And to pass this test, he added, drivers and drivers’ mates will have to be carrying a valid passport; a letter from the foreign truck owner verifying their employee status; and a letter describing their itinerary in SA. For foreign drivers on an SA-registered truck, they must have an SA work permit, or proof that the application has been submitted and is pending at home affairs. Isaacson disputes whether the immigration staff at the border posts, apart from possibly the main artery at Beitbridge, are likely to be ready to process permits from June 1 under the new rulings. “That’s two months,” he said, “and such new legislation normally takes about five to six months until it can be properly applied.” And, if the border posts are not ready, Isaacson sees disaster brewing for the road transport industry. “It the vehicle is carrying time-critical perishable cargo, or explosives, for example, they’ll have a major logistical headache on their hands.” But, he added, in a more cynical state of mind, the corruption at these border posts will probably make it a hundred or two hundred bucks in the right pocket, and the official “will make all your immigration problems go away”. In a more serious vein, Barney Curtis, executive officer of the Federation of Southern African Transport Associations (Fesarta), told FTW in a call from Zambia that this was one of the issues on the table for discussion. But it is going to have to join the queue, as the SA professional driver’s permit from the department of transport (DoT) is first in line. Another complication, Curtis added, is that the work permit issue is handled by the department of home affairs, a different government body altogether. “But,” he said, “we will be dealing with it at Southern African Development Community (SADC) level.