The Department of Home Affairs does not have plans to suspend the capture of biometrics at ports of entry over the festive season, neither is it authorised to employ a greater number of immigration officials to cope with the greater number of travellers expected.
The department revealed as much at a media briefing on Friday morning, which followed a meeting between the department and industry associations including the TBCSA, the Board of Airline Representatives of SA and the Airline Association of Southern Africa.
Director General Mkuseli Apleni says the Department will, however, look at extending the opening hours at some ports of entry to 24 hours. He also said for certain ports such as OR Tambo International, additional staff would be redeployed from areas where they are not busy, in order to help existing capacity cope with the extended hours.
Ultimately the plan is for the airport to operate with a full staff complement and all counters open from around December 8 to January 10.
While Apleni made no reference to other changes to the implementation of biometric capturing at OR Tambo, Tourism Update understand that a new queue system has been implemented.
On Friday, there were three queues at immigration at OR Tambo’s international arrivals hall: one for SA citizens, one for those requiring visas and one for those who don’t require visas. Irish tourists arriving on a morning flight took 35 minutes to clear immigration. They went into the queue for no visas required and their biometrics were not taken.
