I am an Immigration Practitioner registered with the Dept of Home Affairs in South Africa. I have been involved in the industry for just over 7 years now and I have become accustomed to the shenanigans that go on within South African government departments as a whole and particularly Home Affairs.

Being firmly embedded in the system, you find yourself "playing the game" as a matter of survival despite what you really feel about the people you are woking with and the flawed processes that plague the industry.

One issue, however, continues to astound me. It seems strange to think that Home Affairs can possibly lose a foreigners application. An application that would determine this persons right to continue his/her stay in the country. This seems to be the general excuse when following up on ones application at a regional DHA office. Home Affairs staff are stating that applications have been "lost"!

Are they trained to say "Sorry sir, your file is lost" ? I am convinced that this is the case because so many staff members are using the same excuse. This is by no means a coincidence. The files are often recovered months later and the finalisation of the application is then expedited. Often applications are

"lost" and applicants are asked to resubmit a copy of the application so it can run through the system again and hopefully get approved. This happens sometimes 2 or 3 times over before an outcome!

The problem of the lost applications is understandable. We are purely inneficient when it comes to administration and the processes we follow and the systems that are being used are not condusive to quick outcomes and swift results. My major problem lies in the fact that Home Affairs staff are impulsively stating that an application is "lost" when in actual fact it is sitting in Pretoria amongst a pile of other applications waiting to be processed. Why say this? Say ANYTHING else but to state that "your application has been lost" is purely ridiculous, irresponsible and unprofessional. What are our visitors thinking and how are they feeling about their future stay in the country when they have just been told "your application has been lost".

Where are these applications being sent? Why are they "being lost" ? Why is Home Affairs saying they are "lost" and then miraculously finding them again? The Immigration Act states 30 days processing time for applications submitted locally. If an application isnt lost, which would be considered lucky, one can expect an outcome anytime between 1 and 4 months.

Ridiculous.

Written by Robbie Ragless - New World Immigration South Africa

www.nwisouthafrica.co.za