PRETORIA – Home Affairs will launch a biometric online platform by 10 November to speed up asylum applications and prevent rejected applicants from submitting repeat claims.
The digital system will use fingerprints, facial scans and iris patterns to verify identities and check whether applicants have lodged previous rejected applications.
Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber said the platform would help the department address inefficiencies in the asylum system while strengthening immigration law enforcement.
“The ConCourt did not remove our right as Home Affairs to adjudicate a refugee application. If someone doesn’t qualify, it is our job to say you don’t qualify and you must be deported,” he said during an Inter-Ministerial Committee on Migration media briefing in Pretoria on Sunday.
Verifying identities and documents
The platform will require asylum applicants to submit biometric information. Home Affairs will use this data to verify identities and check the authenticity of passports and other travel documents.
The system will also identify other infringements recorded against applicants.
Schreiber said the reforms would draw on the department’s experience in using technology to improve other administrative processes, including the Electronic Travel Authorisation system.
He stressed that the Constitutional Court judgment of 7 July 2026 dealt with procedural aspects of processing asylum claims and did not grant refugee status or citizenship to any foreign national.
Tackling 120 000 case backlog
Home Affairs faces a backlog of roughly 120 000 asylum appeals, though Schreiber said the department would confirm the exact figure.
“I don’t have the exact figure on where the backlog stands as of today, but I think it is around 120 000, following that reduction of about 20% that I mentioned, but I would ask that we just get an opportunity to send through the actual figure,” he said.
The department processes initial asylum applications in roughly 30 days. The main delays occur during the appeals stage.
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Home Affairs reduced the appeals backlog by about 20% during the previous financial year. Schreiber said further improvements would prevent new applications from creating another backlog.
The department brought in 74 advocates to strengthen its capacity to process appeals. Schreiber said the current administration inherited a system where only nine people processed asylum appeals.
Government seeks court guidance
Government plans to approach the Constitutional Court for a supervisory order to obtain guidance on implementing its judgment and to address administrative and operational challenges facing Home Affairs.
Schreiber said the department needs to establish how many people will apply for asylum before it can plan its staffing and processing capacity.
The online platform will help Government establish the scale of applications it needs to manage and plan a phased implementation process.
The IMC has directed relevant government departments and entities to participate in a 29 October 2026 hearing before a panel of judges of the Gauteng Division of the High Court. The panel will consider conflicting judgments on asylum seekers issued within the division.
Schreiber said the department will continue to adjudicate asylum applications and enforce immigration law, including deporting those whose claims have been finally rejected.
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