Expats Waiting for their Permits

Hi all

Below an extract from the update we sent to our clients last week:

The Department of Home Affairs has opened a dedicated Call Center Helpline for all applicants wishing to follow up on their residence applications.

The Call Center comprises of about 150 staff members and with operating hours from Mondays to Fridays from 7am to 7pm and on Saturdays from 8am to 5pm.

This is a very welcome improvement to the Departments endeavours to increase service delivery to all applicants. A similar system is operated currently by Canada and reports are it works very well.

In an effort to eliminate corruption, currently the call centre will only deal directly with applicants. The call centre agents do not have access to the supplied power of attorney documentation and are therefore not able to verify whether a Immigration Practitioner is authorised by the applicant to follow up on an application or not.

For all expats waiting for their permits, it is essential that as soon as possible, you call the Hotline on 0800 60 11 90 (free from all landlines within SA) and have the following ready:

* Your passport number which was used when submitting your application
* The date of application
* The place of application

For any questions, or details on the remaining update email, please feel free to ask.