Increase in Department of Home Affairs Rejections
On October 12, 2014 / Leave a comment
Immigration Act South Africa 2014 changes – Increase in Department of Home Affairs Rejections – Blog Series Part 6 – Release May 2014
Managing change is important in any setting. Changes within businesses need to be carefully coordinated to ensure that staff and clients are well informed and prepared. Any organisation planning for change needs a clear plan and strategy to ensure maximum benefit to all parties and to avoid confusion which in turn will lead to anxiety and frustration.
When it comes to the Department of Home Affairs it seems that a clear plan or strategy is lacking. In April 2014 new immigration regulations were expected to be implemented. Some Home Affairs offices were aware of the proposed changes whereas others had never heard of or seen the proposed amendments to the immigration regulation.
Following harsh criticism from different sections of the population the Department of Home Affairs seems to have decided to take another look at the proposed new law, while failing to inform its staff to this effect.
The result seems to be that certain sections within the Department of Home Affairs have been (partially) trained or informed of the new law, expecting implementation on 1st April, but have not been informed that the new law has not been implemented and that applications continue to be submitted and are required to be adjudicated according to the current immigration framework.
For visa applicants this has led to even more inconsistency pertaining to their respective application process, with the Department of Home Affairs having started to increasingly query and reject applications at random.
This is affecting immigration agents across South Africa as well as individuals who have prepared and submitted applications on their own.
Initiate Immigration had been preparing visa applications with the current and proposed new law in mind since the publication of the proposed laws to ensure that the Department of Home Affairs had no grounds to query or reject applications.
However, applications submitted prior to the new regulations having been published seem to be affected most as some Home Affairs officials appear to be adjudicating applications according to the proposed amendment law.
The consequences of this cannot be understated and Initiate Immigration will work with other immigration companies to ensure that the interest of applicants is represented.
Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.
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