Privacy Policy

Introduction

Strategies Migration Services South Africa (Proprietary) Limited (“we” or “us” or “our“) is a responsible party in respect of your personal information and special personal information (as defined in the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013)  (“POPIA”).

This privacy policy sets out the basis on which personal information whether provided by you to us, or collected by us through other means when you engage with us, in your use of our products and/or services, in providing us with your products and services, or in accessing our website will be used, stored and processed by us.  Please read the following carefully to understand our views and practices regarding your personal information and how we will treat it.

In adopting this privacy policy, we wish to balance our legitimate business interests and your reasonable expectation of privacy.  Accordingly, we will take all appropriate, reasonable, technical, and organisational measures to prevent unauthorised access to, or disclosure of your personal information. However, as no security system is impenetrable, we cannot guarantee and do not represent or warrant that your personal information will be one hundred percent secure, or that the information you supply (including information contained in emails sent to or from us or via phone) will not be intercepted while being transmitted to and from us over the Internet or phone.

This privacy policy must be read together with our website terms and conditions, terms of service, engagement letter any other documents or agreements between us, and you that describe the manner in which we, in specific circumstances, collect, process and store your personal information.

Types of Personal Information We Collect

The types of personal information that we may collect, process and store include information necessary for our legitimate business interests and the types of personal information specified in POPIA including your first and last name, email address, billing information and information required to deliver our products and/or services to you and/or give effect to a contract entered into between us and you.

In accordance with POPIA, we will not collect personal information not set out in this Privacy Policy or in excess of that which is necessary for our legitimate business interests.

When you visit our website found at www.immigrationspecialists.co.za, our web server automatically records the name of your ISP (Internet Service Provider), the website from which you visit us, the pages on our website you visit and in what sequence, and the date and length of your visit. This information is aggregate and anonymous data and does not identify you specifically.

How Your Personal Information is Used

We may collect and use your personal information to:

1. deliver our products and/or services to you;
2. respond to any queries you may have;
3. determine and understand your specific customer needs and desires in order to improve our services, products, website and content;
4. conduct security, administrative and legal processes and for purposes ancillary thereto;
5. inform you of changes made to our website terms and conditions, privacy policy, terms of service, website, content, products and/or services; and
6. process payments when you purchase our products and/or services.

Special Personal Information

In certain circumstances, we may collect certain special personal information (as defined in POPIA), including but not limited to biometric information or information about your criminal offences or convictions. This information is only collected where necessary:

1. to deliver our products and/or services to you or to ascertain the suitability of our products and/or services for your specific needs and circumstances;
2. to establish, exercise or defend a right or obligation in law; and
3. as part of our screening processes relating to your health when accessing our premises, in order to comply with Covid-19 regulations and protocols.

In accordance with POPIA, we have implemented appropriate safeguards to process, maintain and protect special personal information.

CCTV

We collect personal information and special personal information (as defined in POPIA) about you through CCTV cameras installed at our offices situated at 96 On Fourth Street, Parkmore, Sandton, Johannesburg, 2191 for safety and security reasons.

Our Cookies Policy

We, our third-party service providers and our partners may send “cookies” to your computer or use similar technologies to enhance your online experience at our website and across the internet. “Cookies” are files that can identify you as a unique customer and store your personal preferences as product or service preferences to tell us which website pages you have visited and in what order. We use cookies and other technical information to personalise your visit to our website, to analyse traffic on our website and to track user trends, patterns, and selections for authorised download and for technical reasons connected with your use of our website.

On their own, cookies do not contain or reveal any personal information, nor do we set any personally identifiable information in cookies, however, if you choose to provide us with personal information, it can be linked to the anonymous data stored in the cookies. Most browsers are initially set to accept cookies, however, if you prefer, you may adjust your browser to reject cookies from us or from any other website. Please note that this may prevent you accessing certain areas and features of our website.

Personal Information that is Publicly Available

You agree that personal information made available by you for viewing by others on or through our website, content, social media pages, other websites (“Online Platforms”) or by any other means can be used and stored by others. We may collect the personal information that you disclose, however, we cannot be liable for the use, security, storage or improper use of such personal information you voluntarily post on Online Platforms or otherwise.

Direct Marketing

We will only send you direct marketing communications and/or materials if you have specifically opted-in to receive these communications and/or materials, or if you are a client of ours. By completing the subscription or contact us form on our website, you agree to receive marketing communications and/or materials from us. You may opt out of receiving direct marketing communications and/or materials from us at any time. Should you wish to opt-out, please send your request to info@immigrationspecialists.co.za.

Storage of Personal Information

By using our website, Online Platforms and/or providing us with personal information offline you agree that we may collect, use and store your personal information for the purposes set out in this privacy policy.

We will not store your personal information for longer than is necessary, unless it is lawful for us to do so.

Where there are reasonable grounds to believe that your personal information has been accessed or acquired by any unauthorised person, we will timeously inform you and the Information Regulator of such breach and provide you with as much information as we have available in relation thereto in order to allow you to take any necessary protective measures.

We may from time to time need to transfer to and/or store your personal information on servers or in a jurisdiction other than where it was collected (including in Zimbabwe where we have offices) and we hereby notify you that such jurisdiction may not have comparable data protection legislation. To the extent such location does not have substantially similar laws to those of South Africa, which provide for the protection of personal information, we will take reasonably practicable steps, including the imposition of appropriate contractual terms to ensure that your personal information is adequately protected in that jurisdiction.

Confidentiality and Disclosure of Information

We will take appropriate measures to ensure your personal information is kept confidential, however you understand that to balance our legitimate business interests and deliver our services to you we may share your personal information with:

1. our authorised employees, contractors, service providers, counsel, representatives and/or team members who have a legitimate need to know your personal information;
2. government bodies (including but not limited to the Department of Home Affairs) and adjudication bodies and/or authorities;
3. regulators, auditors, legal advisors, other professionals and affected parties in order to:

a. obtain professional advice;
b. comply with applicable laws and regulations; and
c. protect our rights, including our rights under our website terms and conditions, this privacy policy, our terms of service and any other documents incorporated therein by reference (“Legal Agreements”) (including the investigation of a perceived breach of the Legal Agreements); and
d. protect the rights of the users of our website, content, products and/or services under our Legal Agreements.

We may share information about users of our website and/or Online Platforms in an anonymous or aggregate form with third parties including advertisers and business partners, to understand customer trends and patterns and manage and improve our business relationships.

Third Party Websites

Please note that if you click on or follow any links from our website to third party websites, our privacy policy will no longer apply. Please check the privacy policies of any such third party websites before submitting any personal information or other data, as we cannot accept any responsibility or liability in relation to such third party websites.

Access to Information and Data Subject Rights

Subject to the conditions in POPIA, you have the right to:

1. know what personal information we collect from you;
2. have your personal information permanently deleted or destroyed;
3. object to the processing of your personal information at any time, on reasonable grounds (including if the processing is for purposes of direct marketing other than direct marketing by means of unsolicited electronic communications and you have not given your consent thereto);
4. correct or update your personal information;
5. withdraw consent you have previously given us to process your personal information; and
6. lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator if you think your personal information is being used unlawfully

(collectively, “Data Rights”).

To exercise your Data Rights please email us at info@immigrationspecialists.co.za.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

From time to time, we may revise this privacy policy to reflect company initiatives, changes in the law or technology, or changes in our practices regarding the collection, use and storage of personal information. If we decide to change this privacy policy, the changes will be posted on our website (and be effective immediately) so that you are always informed of the latest version.

Protection of Minors

To use and access our website and/or purchase our products and/or services you must be 18 (eighteen) years or older.

We may process personal information of children in the course of providing services to you. In such cases, the processing of personal information is conducted with the consent of the minor’s legal guardian or to comply with an obligation in law. We do not knowingly collect any personal information of children under the age of 18 (eighteen) without such consent or without being legally required to do so.

Enforceability

If any provision of this privacy policy is judged to be illegal, void or unenforceable it shall be deemed deleted and the continuation in full force and effect of the remainder of the provisions will not be prejudiced.

Governing Law

You agree that this privacy policy and any dispute of whatsoever nature relating to or arising out of this privacy policy (directly or indirectly) is governed by South African law.

Contact

If you have any questions or comments about this privacy policy please contact our Information Officer at info@immigrationspecialists.co.za.

Last Updated 6 July 2021