JOHANNESBURG, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- South Africa's Department of Home Affairs has cleared the visa and permits backlog, which was 306,000 unprocessed applications since April last year, Minister of Home Affairs Leon Schreiber said Monday.

Schreiber made the remarks at an event where he gave awards to the employees who helped to reduce the backlog. The department said they have cleared 93 to 94 percent of the backlog owing to the dedication of the workers who worked during weekends.

Schreiber said the backlog has acted as a handbrake on South Africa's economic growth prospects for a long time. "The backlog has deprived our economy of the investment and skills it needs to grow and achieve the apex priority of the government of national unity, which is to create jobs."

South Africa introduced a new Trusted Tour Operator Scheme (TTOS) last year to facilitate tourists from China and India by allowing selected tour operators to handle applications to improve visa processing efficiency.

"I want adjudicators to ensure the successful rollout of the TTOS, which has the potential to supercharge tourism from China and India to create jobs for more South Africans. Statistics show that for every twelve additional tourists brought to our country, one new formal job is created," Schreiber said.

The minister added that the department is using technology to aid their work, including artificial intelligence. Enditem

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