At a workshop on South African visa requirements organised by Wesgro, which promotes Cape Town and Western Cape province, Deputy Minister Fatima Chohan heard one ELT school owner recount that he had refunded R150,000 (US$12,000) in fees this year already to students who had been unable to obtain a study visa.

While some schools have opted to undergo an additional (and lengthy) TVET accreditation process, the situation outlined last year of visa officials refusing to issue study visas to long-term language students because of confusion over the appropriate accreditation status of language schools remains.

Another school owner attending the Wesgro summit said he had already scaled down his staff size and he believed failure to unplug the visa blockage could lead to school closures.

“The South African government has finally responded to our pleas”

Chohan has promised to organise a meeting with the Department of Higher Education and Training and industry association EduSA to find a solution to a problem.

Johannes Kraus, EduSA’s chairperson, told The PIE News, “I was at the meeting and I was positively surprised. The Minister was aware of our difficulties with the new Immigration Act and she also identified the problem.”

He continued, “Basically, the Department of Home Affairs wants the schools to be registered with DHET. However, the latter says that our accreditation with the SSETA and hence the recognition with QCTO is sufficient.”

Kraus, who along with fellow EduSA member Gavin Eyre has written to the government to detail the situation, is hopeful that an interim solution can now be achieved.

In the letter, he points out that EduSA membership data indicates arrivals are down by 35% in the first quarter of 2015 on 2014. Enrolments from certain markets, notably Turkey and South American countries, are down by up to 72% in the same quarter.

At language school LAL Cape Town, Torrique Borges acknowledged, “The visa issue is grossly affecting our long-term student bookings. Under the current legislation, we are unable to source student bookings of more than 12 or 24 weeks, depending on which source market the student comes from.”

He added, “The South African government has finally responded to our pleas and I hope that this can be the start of legitimising our industry. In the interim, we have to continue our business operations and ensure that we do our best to minimise the impact of the new visa legislation no matter how challenging the environment may be.”