# rejected relatives visa



## mark__land (Dec 6, 2013)

We got the notification that our relative visa was ready for collection yesterday, and excitedly rushed to go and pick it up. Excitement turned to disapointment when it turned out to a letter of rejection which seems to be on small technicalities. We have been and lived together for 6 years. This is now our third renewal, so I just find them to be completely unreasonable to get so petty about it at this stage. Also my boyfriend is now entitled to apply for PR. I guess now that they rejected the renewal, we won't be able to apply for the PR unless we appeal the decision and somehow get it approved? But how.

I really need your guys help on how to go about appealing urgently as we only have 10 days. I suppose this is calendar days and not business days? 
They seem to be missing two documents. Is it an easy case of just doing the appeal and including the two documents they requested in order to turn the decision into a positive one?

"The reason(s) for the decision is/are the following:

No Affidavit on Part A of Form 12 confirming the continued existence of the relationship in terms of regulation 3(2)(b)
No notarial agreement signed by both parties attesting that the permanent relationship has existed for at least two years before the date of application for a visa and that the relationship still exists to the exclusion of any other person in terms of regulation 3(2)(a)(i)."

I think I must have submitted the wrong Affadavit form. I submitted this one:
http://www.southafrica-newyork.net/homeaffairs/forms/affidavit by life partners.pdf

Which is the right one to use?

Secondly I did submit a letter of declaration. I guess it needs to be a 'notarial agreement' which means get it signed by a commissioner of oaths? 

Who do I appeal to? Do I do it through VFS.Global again (and pay another R1350) or should I be sending it directly to Home Affairs. The letter says that I need make a written representation to the Director-General to review the decision.


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## Spiggles (Mar 19, 2014)

mark__land said:


> We got the notification that our relative visa was ready for collection yesterday, and excitedly rushed to go and pick it up. Excitement turned to disapointment when it turned out to a letter of rejection which seems to be on small technicalities. We have been and lived together for 6 years. This is now our third renewal, so I just find them to be completely unreasonable to get so petty about it at this stage. Also my boyfriend is now entitled to apply for PR. I guess now that they rejected the renewal, we won't be able to apply for the PR unless we appeal the decision and somehow get it approved? But how.
> 
> I really need your guys help on how to go about appealing urgently as we only have 10 days. I suppose this is calendar days and not business days?
> They seem to be missing two documents. Is it an easy case of just doing the appeal and including the two documents they requested in order to turn the decision into a positive one?
> ...


Hi mark__land,

I am so sorry to hear that your partner's visa renewal was rejected. 
I don't know all the answers for your questions, but here are some I know..

If he applied under new immigration law, the Affidavit form he needed to use was the one from new immigration gazette.
Regarding a "Notarial agreement", for the past application, didn't you ever need to submit before?
Its a formal agreement entered into by a SA partner and foreign partner notarised by Notary. 
There is no standard format for this as each one will be different, some also call it ' Notarial contract' or 'Cohabitation agreement'.
I am assuming that Letter of deceleration was letter stating that you will support your partner emotionally and financially?
You need to submit that letter as well as Affidavit and Notarial agreement. 

I think you need to submit your appeal through VFS as Local DHA offices do not deal with visas anymore.

Good luck!:fingerscrossed:


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## mark__land (Dec 6, 2013)

Hi thank you for the information

Yeah its under the new immigration law. We never have needed to submit a notarial agreement before (its not even in the VFS Global required documents...but thats another story!). 

Apart from financial support, my letter of declaration also stated the nature of the relationship to be of a permanent and exclusive in nature, and that we cohabit. The same things they complained they were missing. The only thing I didn't do was have it witnessed by a commissioner of oaths. I'm going to do so, and change some of the wording to match the wording they expect to hear... hope this will work? 

Also another question. Do I need to submit ALL the original paperwork again? This is what the VFS Global site says (I think) but does Home Affairs not keep copies? I mean this is an appeal to an application they should still have on file or am I wrong?


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## saffalass (Sep 28, 2014)

The notarial thing is weird, I've seen a few people post about being rejected on the basis of not including it, yet the act reads affidavit OR notarial agreement. When we went to do our application in London, the lady taking our docs didn't even say that she wanted it, we had to tell her to take it.

I can send you a copy of the notarial agreement we used, it's two pages long and a bit more substantial than the "letter of support". We had ours signed by a notary in the UK, which is different to just a standard commissioner of oaths, but not sure how it works in SA. 

Anyway, if you want a template, just send me your email address and I'll pass it on.


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## yojimbo (Aug 3, 2014)

*Affidavit*

Hi, I just received today a 36 month visitors multi-entry visa (new TR to my understanding) in London consulate. Based on 8 years of marriage. I had a lots of questions about this affidavit thing as well and notary agreement prior to application. You welcome to look my posts and treads here in last 2 weeks of September. In effect they want a piece of paper which says that you live together and look after each other without resolving to public funds etc call it a notary agreement and get a notary put a red sticker on it AND on affidavit. Not sure the point but it worked for me. Just google something called cohabitation agreement, choose simplest one and take to any notary. Hope it helps


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## LegalMan (Dec 26, 2012)

Sorry to hear about this! Go get the documents and appeal within 10 calendar days at VFS, yes. You may struggle to get an appointment and have to use a service for this.


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## mark__land (Dec 6, 2013)

*no appoinments?*



LegalMan said:


> Sorry to hear about this! Go get the documents and appeal within 10 calendar days at VFS, yes. You may struggle to get an appointment and have to use a service for this.


Oh no! I've gone into the VFS website to book the appointment and there is not a single appeal appointment until 1st Dec in their calendar. No green days show up for the rest of November. Surely this cannot be?

My heart is sinking...how can I submit within 10 days if they won't let me book an appointment!!


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## mark__land (Dec 6, 2013)

So what are my options?

If I cannot appeal through VFS global within the 10 day limit, is there any way to do it direct to home affairs?

Should I be considering contacting a lawyer to do this on my behalf at this point? And will it help? When I was in the VFS centre in the application, I saw that the agents did nothing really other than tell the applicants to go and stand at this counter, now stand at that counter etc.
But perhaps lawyers have an ability to appeal via another route?

Does anyone know if the 10 days are calendar days or business days?


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## Jack14 (Oct 26, 2014)

mark__land said:


> So what are my options?
> 
> If I cannot appeal through VFS global within the 10 day limit, is there any way to do it direct to home affairs?
> 
> ...


Hi

Your best option is submit ur appeal at VFS George in the Western Cape

You will be able to get an appointment date there, they are not too busy there


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## LegalMan (Dec 26, 2012)

Option 1: Stand outside VFS and hope someone doesn't pitch for their appointment.
Option 2: Go through a company that has contacts and could slot you in somewhere.
Option 3: Prepare your appeal and get the DHA to stamp it to say that they have seen that it is ready for submission (long shot).


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## Jack14 (Oct 26, 2014)

mark__land said:


> So what are my options?
> 
> If I cannot appeal through VFS global within the 10 day limit, is there any way to do it direct to home affairs?
> 
> ...


I dont think a lawyer can do much at this point, you are only going to waste your money at this point

You should use all the normal appeal process first before going legal, the appeal process is straight forward, all you need to do is fill the appeal form and include the missing documents in your appeal

If your appeal to the director general get rejected, you can still appeal to the Miniter to review the decision of the director general, If that too get rejected then you can take the minister to court


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## mark__land (Dec 6, 2013)

Good news, we submitted our appeal today and everything went smoothly.

Turns out that they let us in with no problems, as long as we had booked an appointment date in the future - which is good - because otherwise we would have missed our appointment.

The VFS Global offices seem quite efficient. The only annoying thing is that each applicant gets one ticket for their timeslot as it should be, but agents also take one ticket per timeslot but may have 10 people all applying on that single ticket. So if you are unlucky to have 4 agents infront of you, you know you are going to wait and wait...

Would be nice if agents were processed in a seperate queue somehow...


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## LegalMan (Dec 26, 2012)

mark__land said:


> Good news, we submitted our appeal today and everything went smoothly.
> 
> Turns out that they let us in with no problems, as long as we had booked an appointment date in the future - which is good - because otherwise we would have missed our appointment.
> 
> ...


Agreed, and that is how it used to be at the DHA Offices.


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## hilrap (Jul 31, 2014)

mark__land said:


> Good news, we submitted our appeal today and everything went smoothly.
> 
> Turns out that they let us in with no problems, as long as we had booked an appointment date in the future - which is good - because otherwise we would have missed our appointment.


Out of curiosity, did you have to pay again the appointment fee for your appeal?


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## mark__land (Dec 6, 2013)

hilrap said:


> Out of curiosity, did you have to pay again the appointment fee for your appeal?


Yes. The same fee of R1350 again...

It's clear that Home Affairs keeps no electronic copies of your application you are appealing, even though this is the year 2014. You have to submit copies of everything in the original application basically. It's a bit like applying from scratch, so best to keep copies of everything you send to them!

I also asked Global VFS if I could pay the R20 to get a SMS notification as I didn't get one last time. This service is clearly stated on their website. However, they told me at the station that they couldn't let me pay for this as this service currently wasn't operational.


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## kingpiemain (Apr 5, 2016)

I have my application rejected based on invalid police report (wrong date of birth). What do i go about it. How do i report the appeal letter.


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## LegalMan (Dec 26, 2012)

kingpiemain said:


> I have my application rejected based on invalid police report (wrong date of birth). What do i go about it. How do i report the appeal letter.


I'm sorry, but you obviously need a proper police clearance first. Get that right and re-apply.


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