# More PRP delays nuisance



## oceanracer (Mar 10, 2015)

First, sorry for yet another lengthy post.
I submitted my PRP application on October 2014 and I am still waiting for any result . While waiting for it, as if I had nothing better to do, I had to appeal a capricious and totally arbitrary decision by DHA do reject my TRP which I had to extent to stay legit in the country. A positive outcome eventually arrived many months later after my first TRP had expired forcing me to stay put in the republic to avoid deportation.

So now, I have to deal with more frustrating delays regarding my PRP. a year ago, I hired an immigration agent (not a lawyer) who has been keeping me up-to-date on the whereabout of my PRP application. According to him, he has been meeting regularly w/ DHA staff in Pretoria to discuss the work progress of each of his clients' application . This has been going on for almost a year now. 
Finally in October, he advised me that DHA had requested that he went to Pretoria on 25/11/2015 to personally collect the permit, along with proof that it was on the system"; I thought it was strange since the permit should only come to VFS (humm flag #1). I asked him to send me the email/ sms/ letter he received from DHA w/ such strange request, he did not and changed his story to inform me that he was told my PRP would be ready before Xmas, on the 18/12/2005, which happened to be a Saturday (humm, flag #2) . then I was told that the DHA computer system was down! more delays.. then on 18/1/2016 after inquiring, yet again, on the status of my PRP, I received the following SMS from my agent ", his answer was "yes, it's done, and you should receive an SMS in 3 -5 days", of course, after 5 days nothing. I contacted him again and he said he had to meet w/ DHA again to discuss mine and another client's PRP. he promised to let me know as soon as his meeting was over. then nothing. I called the next day and he informed me it would be ready by the end of February now. sigh. The reason mien PRP is taking so long, he told me, is that there is so much corruption at DHA (I believe that one) that they had to fire so many people who were handling the applications that it created more delays; they now have to assign new people to handle the existing applications. Also I was told that, given the amount of corruption, DHA is now limited to process 300 applications a month while they are currently 1000s demand/ month creating a backlog. same all, same all; Unless this is BS and my agent has no idea of the whereabout of my PRP application and he is handling me. :-(

Does anyone has had a similar experience or knows what the hell is going on at DHA. I saw some people's posting here claiming to have received their PRP in few weeks or less than 6 months.. Am I missing something, or are they actually DHA agents trying to boost DHA's reputation? they all seemed to be from Zimbabwe, is that the reason? they must be some kind of reciprocal agreement between the 2 countries! Or am I the victim of some kind of discrimination? one wonders! last but not least is this another example of incompetence in action and I am the unlucky one who was assigned the least efficient worker of the entire DHA?.

Any thought would be appreciated! Thank you


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## ColetteR (Jul 22, 2014)

Hi there,

I have the same problem as you. Not in the sense that I went through an immigration officer or consultant. I however did it on my own, I went to the DHA in London back in March 2015. I have in that time been to the DHA asking where my application is or if there is any way that I can have a reference number on my application. I emailed the man who interviewed me and took all my documents and he said my application must be in Pretoria and there is no way he can let me know any information on my application and I have to wait until I get this so called email I've been waiting 11 months for, I should of applied through VFS, they seem to get theirs reasonably quickly. 

I hope you get some sort of confirmation soon!


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## oceanracer (Mar 10, 2015)

Hi Colette, actually for both my PRP and TRP I did all the paperwork on my own through VFS . I hired an immigration consultant much later when I was tired of waiting for an outcome. he actually mostly deals with VISA. Unfortunately nothing seems to help even a "so-called" insider. Although he kinda hinted that the DHA staff might have been sitting on my file for a while blocking it from being sent for signature in exchange of a bribe. I was told the DHA agent is asking for R5,000 which I am refusing to pay. At this point this could be either a scam from my consultant or the work of a corrupted DHA agent. Either way, it is extremely frustrating.


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