Reference: I am requesting your help with the finalisation of my submitted Applications.
I have successfully submitted my documents for:
Permanent Residence Permit on the 5th November 2018. (over 6 years)
Temporary Residence Visa on the 23 January 2023. (over 1 year & 19 months)
I am urgently trying to find out what is happening with my submitted applications listed above.
I have been contacting Home Affairs Call Center every month hoping to get a favourable answer but all I am told is that there is a backlog, I have been hearing this same excuse for the past 3 years. No one can say what is causing the backlog or how long this will go on for.
The Processing of my Permanent Residency Permit has been stuck in the same position since 2022.
No one can tell me why my documents have not been processed further. I fear that my documents have been misplaced again.
I have contacted VFS Visa Processing Cape Town where my applications were submitted. The only information they could give me was the dates when my documents were accepted. They had no ability to let me know what stage my applications were at. I was redirected to the only place that can give me those updates, Home Affairs Pretoria and dismissed.
I have also gone into Home Affairs in Cape Town on the 5th Feb 2023 pleading for their assistance. I was told that they could not help with anything, that my documents were sent to Pretoria from VFS and they had no way to give me any updates. I was redirected again back to VFS or Home Affairs Call Center and dismissed.

When I started this process 12 years ago.
I have had finalizations of my previous Visa Applications in 6-8 weeks, and I was told by VFS that a Permanent Residency application takes 8-10 weeks to 1 year.
I don’t know what has gone so horribly wrong with the working system over the years that now the finalizations of these applications have gotten increasingly worse from month to month.
Can someone at Home Affairs not see that there is a problem, the system is broken and put arrangements in place to fix the matter, to stop the downward spiralling of the time it takes to get an outcome and the endless backlog of waiting applications.

This all leaves me in a major financial predicament, with stress, anxiety, worry and frustration, as to what is happening with my documents since my previous application documents disappeared twice in Pretoria, and how much longer before an outcome will occur?

Please can you help me with this matter.

Looking forward to your soonest reply.

Chris