South Africa’s Department of Home Affairs published a Draft Revised White Paper on Citizenship, Immigration and Refugee Protection in December 2025 and invited public comment. The closing date for submissions was extended to 15 February 2026.

As part of the New South Institute’s work on migration governance reform, Alan Hirsch published NSI’s detailed submission on the draft. The submission argues that the revised White Paper represents a marked shift from earlier, more restrictive proposals, and sets out a more constitutionally grounded and administratively focused framework for migration governance.

Hirsch’s key points include:

a proposed Intelligent Population Register and wider digital modernisation (including biometrics), alongside questions about privacy, incentives, and implementation capacity;

a move toward point-based and consolidated pathways for skilled immigration, and a merit-based route to naturalisation that still requires further detail;

proposed reforms to refugee processing, including a “first safe country” approach that may be difficult to implement without workable bilateral agreements and could face legal challenges.

A shorter version of the argument was published via The Conversation Africa and republished by other outlets under Creative Commons terms.

Read the full NSI submission
Read the shorter The Conversation version (republished)