Such centers have been already introduced by the section in several its high-volume missions overseas – including its assignments in China, Ghana, Kenya and Nigeria – where it had previously struggled to reduce prolonged queues and lengthy turn-around times, Gigaba said.

“We have visa facilitation centers at quite a few of our high-quantity missions outside the country, and they’ve been working fairly successfully … bringing, I might add, to the success of our tourism stats over the last few years. It’s this great practice that we hope to roll out in South Africa.”

In line with the Department of Home Affairs, the 11 visa facilitation centres will all be fully functional and open by the end of June. They contain two centres in Gauteng province and the Western Cape, and one in every one of the other seven provinces, as follows:

Eastern Cape – Port Elizabeth

Free State – Bloemfontein

Gauteng – Johannesburg and Pretoria

KwaZulu-Natal -Durban

Limpopo – Polokwane

Mpumalanga – Nelspruit

Northern Cape – Kimberley

North West – Rustenburg

Western Cape – Cape Town and George

============

Update 1

VFS Visa Facilitation Services South Africa

South Africa: SA Starts Visa Facilitation Service Centres (VFS)