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New student visa requirements
04/01/2008 19:40 - (SA)
Johannesburg - Zimbabwean students studying or intending to study in South Africa are now required to have medical aid cover from that country as a new visa application requirement, Zimbabwe's Herald online reported on Friday.
Until the new regulation, students studying in SA were covered by their Zimbabwean medical aid societies, the Herald said.
"However, the SA Embassy recently stopped processing study permits for Zimbabwean students using local medical aid societies, which they said were not registered with South Africa's Council for Medical Schemes."
The students were advised to get medical aid cover from South Africa.
MD Nzuzo, head of civic and immigration at the embassy, is said to have also written to Premier Service Medical Aid Society - which provides cover to several students studying at universities and colleges in South Africa - advising students applying for study permits to present a letter from the SA Council for Medical Schemes.
"It is now a statutory requirement that foreign students who are in possession of foreign medical cover or insurance, who approach the Department to apply for a study permit, must simultaneously present a letter from the Council for Medical Schemes, confirming the recognition of foreign medical insurance or cover in the Republic," he reportedly said.
Individual applications
However, PSMAS group operations executive Enock Chitekedza said although his company had, through the Association of Healthcare Funders of Zimbabwe, tried to gain recognition their efforts "had been in vain".
Head of the Compliance Office of the Registrar of Medical Schemes in SA, Evan Theys, is said to have told PSMAS that his office only dealt with individual applications.
"Please note that this office deals with individual applications of students seeking recognition of their medical coverage for study permits, as per instructions from National Department of Home Affairs," he said.
He further suggested that PSMAS should take the matter up with the National Department of Home Affairs, the Herald reported.
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