Road2Asia (Pty) Ltd – Privacy Policy

Introduction

Road2Asia (Pty) Ltd (“Road2Asia”, “we”, “our”) respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal information. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, share and protect the personal information of our clients, website visitors and any other data subjects (“you”/“your”) in accordance with South Africa’s Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) and relevant immigration laws. The POPIA’s objective is to safeguard individuals by securing their personal data and granting them rights to review and remedy any information held by an organisation. Road2Asia processes personal information in line with these legal requirements and with the South African Immigration Act 13 of 2002, which regulates the admission, residence and departure of persons from the Republic.

Summary of Our Privacy Practices

We collect personal information necessary to provide visa consulting services and to comply with legal obligations under the Immigration Act and POPIA. We only use personal data for specified, lawful purposes and implement appropriate safeguards to protect it. We do not sell your personal information, and we only share it with trusted third parties (such as embassies, consulates, government departments and service providers) when required to deliver our services or comply with the law. You have rights to access, correct, delete and object to the processing of your personal information. This policy outlines those rights and how to exercise them. Should you have any questions or concerns, please contact us using the details provided under the “Contact Us” section.

Definitions

Personal Information means any information relating to an identifiable, living individual or an identifiable existing juristic person, as defined in POPIA. This includes identifiers such as names, identification numbers, passport details, contact details, travel history and immigration status.
Special Personal Information refers to information relating to race, health, biometric information, religious or philosophical beliefs or criminal behaviour as defined in POPIA. Road2Asia will only process special personal information when necessary and legally justified (e.g., medical certificates required for visa applications).
Data Subject refers to the person to whom personal information relates.
Responsible Party refers to Road2Asia, which determines the purpose and means for processing your personal information.
Operator refers to any third party who processes personal information on Road2Asia’s behalf (e.g., couriers or IT service providers).

Processing of Personal & Special Personal Information

We process personal information for specific purposes consistent with our visa consulting services. POPIA establishes eight key conditions for lawful processing, including accountability, processing limitation, purpose specification, further processing limitation, information quality, openness, security safeguards and data subject participation. These conditions require organisations to:

Be accountable for complying with POPIA and appoint an information officer.
Limit processing to explicit, lawful purposes.
Specify the purpose for collecting personal data and inform data subjects.
Restrict further processing to purposes compatible with the original purpose.
Ensure information quality by keeping data accurate and up‑to‑date.
Be transparent about data processing activities.
Safeguard personal information through appropriate security measures.
Facilitate participation by allowing data subjects to access, correct and object to processing.

Road2Asia adheres to these conditions when processing your personal or special personal information.

What Information We Collect

We collect personal information required to provide visa consulting services, including but not limited to:

Identifying information: full name, date of birth, nationality, passport number, visa type requested and immigration history.
Contact details: address, phone number, email address and emergency contact information.
Document copies: passports, identity documents, birth or marriage certificates, police clearance certificates and medical certificates.
Financial details: proof of funds or employment, bank statements or payslips (only when required for visa applications and subject to secure handling).
Website usage data: IP addresses, browser type, pages visited and cookies, collected via our website analytics tools.

How We Collect Personal Information

We collect personal information directly from you through:

Application forms and supporting documents you submit to us.
Communication with our consultants via email, telephone, WhatsApp or other messaging platforms.
Online forms on our website.

We may also collect personal information from third parties (e.g., previous employers or educational institutions) when necessary to verify documents, provided you have authorised us to do so.

Purposes for Processing Personal Information

We process personal information only for legitimate purposes, including:

Advising on visa requirements and eligibility.
Compiling and submitting visa and immigration applications to the Department of Home Affairs, foreign embassies or consulates.
Liaising with government authorities or third‑party service providers regarding your application.
Complying with legal obligations under the Immigration Act and POPIA, including verifying identity and preventing fraud.
Responding to your enquiries and providing customer support.
Managing our business operations, including invoicing, accounting, recordkeeping and auditing.
Improving our services and user experience on our website through analytics.

If we intend to process personal information for a new purpose that is incompatible with the original purpose, we will obtain your consent or identify another lawful basis.

Legal Basis for Processing

Road2Asia relies on the following legal bases for processing personal information:

Performance of a contract: Processing necessary to provide visa consulting services or take steps at your request prior to entering into a contract.
Compliance with legal obligations: Processing necessary to comply with immigration regulations and POPIA requirements.
Legitimate interests: Processing necessary for our legitimate interests in delivering our services, ensuring security, preventing fraud and improving our services, provided your rights and interests do not override these interests.
Consent: When required by law (e.g., marketing communications), we will request your consent to process personal information and you may withdraw it at any time.

Sharing Your Personal Information

We do not sell or rent your personal information to third parties. We may disclose your personal information to:

Government authorities such as the Department of Home Affairs, foreign embassies or consulates for the purpose of processing visa applications.
Service providers acting on our behalf (operators) who assist us with courier services, IT hosting, document translations or medical examinations. These providers are bound by confidentiality agreements and may only process personal information according to our instructions.
Legal advisors, auditors or regulators when required to comply with laws or enforce our rights.
Any other party when you have given consent or when we are legally authorised or obliged to do so.

We do not transfer your personal information across borders unless it is necessary to fulfill visa applications or where we are required to do so by law. When transferring information internationally, we ensure appropriate safeguards in accordance with Section 72 of POPIA, such as contractual agreements with foreign recipients or reliance on adequacy decisions.

Retention and Deletion of Personal Information

We retain personal information only for as long as necessary to achieve the purposes described in this policy or as required by law. Section 14 of POPIA requires that information be retained only for as long as necessary ; once the purpose has been fulfilled or retention is no longer required, we securely delete or anonymise the data. Factors determining retention periods include the nature of the information, legal requirements, our contractual obligations, and potential disputes. When retention is no longer justified, we will either erase personal information securely or anonymise it for statistical purposes.

Security Measures

We implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal information against accidental or unlawful destruction, loss, alteration, unauthorised disclosure or access. Such measures include:

Secure storage of physical documents in locked facilities.
Role-based access controls restricting access to personal information only to authorised personnel.
Encryption and secure transmission protocols for electronic data.
Regular monitoring, testing and improvement of our security systems.
Policies requiring operators and employees to maintain confidentiality.
A data breach response plan that ensures prompt notification to the Information Regulator and affected individuals in accordance with POPIA.

Your Rights

Under POPIA and other applicable laws, you have the following rights regarding your personal information:

Right to access: You may request confirmation of whether we hold personal information about you and request a copy of such information.
Right to correction: You may request the correction or deletion of personal information that is inaccurate, irrelevant, excessive, out of date, incomplete, misleading or obtained unlawfully.
Right to deletion: You may request the deletion or destruction of personal information when its retention is no longer lawful or necessary.
Right to objection: You may object to the processing of your personal information if the processing is not justified or if you believe your privacy rights override our legitimate interests.
Right to withdraw consent: Where we rely on consent for processing, you may withdraw that consent at any time.
Right to complain: You may lodge a complaint with Road2Asia’s information officer or the Information Regulator if you believe we are not handling your personal information lawfully.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the details provided below. We may require proof of identity and sufficient information to locate your personal information.

Cookies and Website Analytics

Road2Asia’s website uses cookies and similar technologies to enhance user experience, remember preferences and analyse website traffic. Cookies are small text files stored on your device that help us recognise you on subsequent visits. You can manage cookie preferences in your browser settings. Our website also uses analytics tools (such as Google Analytics) to collect aggregated data about website usage. This information helps us improve the site and does not identify you personally. We process website usage data in accordance with this Privacy Policy and POPIA requirements for processing limitation, purpose specification and security.

Direct Marketing

We may send you information about our services or related immigration updates via email or other electronic communication if you are an existing client or if you have consented to receive such communications. You may opt out of receiving marketing communications at any time by following the unsubscribe instructions included in our emails or by contacting us directly. We comply with POPIA’s requirements on direct marketing and will not send unsolicited electronic communications without consent.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or legal obligations. The updated version will be posted on our website and will be effective upon posting. We encourage you to review this policy periodically. Material changes will be communicated through our website or by email where appropriate.

Contact Us

If you have any questions, concerns or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or the processing of your personal information, please contact our Information Officer at:

Road2Asia (Pty) Ltd

Waterkloof Ridge, Pretoria, South Africa

Email: hello@road2asia.co.za

Telephone: +27 (64) 543 1187

Registration number: 2023/749662/07

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the South African Information Regulator:

Information Regulator

Email: POPIAComplaints@inforegulator.org.za

Website: inforegulator.org.za

Effective Date

This Privacy Policy is effective as of 07 January 2026 and replaces any previous versions.