NOTICE TO ILLEGAL FOREIGNERS
If you’re in the country illegally and want to go back home, the Department of Home Affairs and your embassy can facilitate your voluntary repatriation.
•What you need to do
Contact your embassy or high commission. If you do not have a valid passport, your embassy can issue an Emergency Travel Certificate (a temporary document valid for a one-way trip home), which Home Affairs/Border Management Authority (BMA) will process for exit clearance.
•What you should not do
Do not try to stay in SA illegally, telling yourself you will keep under the radar. Things are getting tougher. There is a crackdown on illegal immigration that is coming. President Ramaphosa mentioned it last Sunday.
“Firstly, we are and will continue to crack down on the violation of our immigration, labour and other laws.”
•Consequences
1) If you are opting for voluntary repatriation but are found to have overstayed, you will be processed and receive the standard 5-year travel ban despite voluntary departure. Your embassy might put you on a plane or bus to take you back home.
2) If you are in the country illegally and do not choose voluntary repatriation, you will be arrested during inland operations (the crackdown), transferred to the Lindela Holding Facility for processing and deportation back to your country of origin.
According to the SA’s Immigration Act, you will be declared 'undesirable' and face a 5-year travel ban.
NB: If you are a recognized refugee or asylum seeker and want to return home, contact the UNHCR South Africa. It facilitates voluntary returns at no cost.
*Oh, and there’s nothing xenophobic about this announcement. If anyone thinks there is, please report me to the South African Human Rights Commission. Their head office number is (011) 877 3600. Or you can lodge a complaint with the South African Equality Court.