# Has Anybody Received a SMS From HA?



## 2fargone (Jun 14, 2011)

I took a friend to HA last month so she could apply for her life partner permit. She was told she wold be notified by HA by sms to come and collect the permit.

I just wanted to check because the last time I went to HA they were not doing these smses.


Are they actually sending out sms or is it hit & miss?


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## Skilled (May 10, 2011)

It all depends with their system. When I went to apply for my PR, they wrote my reference number on my receipt as their machines were not sending SMS for some reason.

A friend of mine received an SMS for his General Work Permit application with reference number.

Wait for some time. 2 weeks maybe and if there is still no SMS, contact the CALL CENTER with your passport number and they will give your the reference number if they captured it. If it's not in the system then they will tell you and you have to go and ask at your office of application.

Thanks


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## 2fargone (Jun 14, 2011)

Skilled said:


> It all depends with their system. When I went to apply for my PR, they wrote my reference number on my receipt as their machines were not sending SMS for some reason.
> 
> A friend of mine received an SMS for his General Work Permit application with reference number.
> 
> ...


Thanks!

Did your receipt have your passport number on it? I just looked at hers and it has random numbers and not her passport number. But the name on the receipt is correct and the name on the paper is correct. Is this something that needs to be sorted out?


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## Skilled (May 10, 2011)

When they capture your application, they do it on your passport number and a reference number will be generated.

So they can look it up by your passport number. The receipt that they wrote my reference number is NOT the same as yours.. It's a PR receipt with documents you submitted. Yours is a payment receipt and will not show any relevant reference number unless if they write it on there for you.

If you call Home Affairs call centre and give them your passport number they will look for your reference number. If they don't find it, it means your application hasn't been captured at the office of application.


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## 2fargone (Jun 14, 2011)

Skilled said:


> When they capture your application, they do it on your passport number and a reference number will be generated.
> 
> So they can look it up by your passport number. The receipt that they wrote my reference number is NOT the same as yours.. It's a PR receipt with documents you submitted. Yours is a payment receipt and will not show any relevant reference number unless if they write it on there for you.
> 
> If you call Home Affairs call centre and give them your passport number they will look for your reference number. If they don't find it, it means your application hasn't been captured at the office of application.


Yes,
I know our numbers are not the same. We will just walk down to HA tomorrow.


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## LegalMan (Dec 26, 2012)

It is total "hit and miss".


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## 2fargone (Jun 14, 2011)

LegalMan said:


> It is total "hit and miss".


HI LegalMan,

A friend from Germany is the one I am asking about we went to HA and I looked at her receipt and her passport number is wrong on her customer receipt. It's just some random numbers that don't match up to anything. Everything else is correct- her name on the receipt and the form they gave her called "Acknowledgement of Receipt' has her correct name & DOB. 

I just didn't know if this was a problem that the receipt number doesn't have the correct passport number?

Thank you!


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## Tim76 (Jan 25, 2014)

Hi all,
Applied for PR in September 2013 and no ref number was issued. Fought with agent and got an email from them on 17.03.2014 saying they 'submitted'the application! but still no ref number...i walked in DHA cape town 2 days ago. They checked with passport number: app was sent to pretoria on 31sr of march and they wrote down my ref number. So if you dont get sms go check in person. Their sms system is probably be down.


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## Skilled (May 10, 2011)

Tim76 said:


> Hi all,
> Applied for PR in September 2013 and no ref number was issued. Fought with agent and got an email from them on 17.03.2014 saying they 'submitted'the application! but still no ref number...i walked in DHA cape town 2 days ago. They checked with passport number: app was sent to pretoria on 31sr of march and they wrote down my ref number. So if you dont get sms go check in person. Their sms system is probably be down.


Sometimes these people need proper beatings! September 2013 and they only sent it to Pretoria on 31st of March 2013. Unacceptable!


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## 2fargone (Jun 14, 2011)

We went in today to check. Ok so in Cape Town the 'Passport number' on the receipt in suppose to be the birthday of the person applying. But the cashier put in the number WRONG! So nothing matched up! Anyway it doesn't matter cause that number is not important for the application!


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## Tim76 (Jan 25, 2014)

Lol. I fully agree. But I think the immigration agent submitted another copy of my app. The 1st one may have been lost but since nobody is taking the blame... any idea on how long will it take to be issued once in Pretoria?


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## Tim76 (Jan 25, 2014)

2fargone said:


> We went in today to check. Ok so in Cape Town the 'Passport number' on the receipt in suppose to be the birthday of the person applying. But the cashier put in the number WRONG! So nothing matched up! Anyway it doesn't matter cause that number is not important for the application!


I will suggest go with your passport.


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## 2fargone (Jun 14, 2011)

Tim76 said:


> I will suggest go with your passport.


I went with my friend and she took her passport.
It was just the receipt. The name matched up on the form and the receipt. We asked two people, and they said that the DOB is not important.


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## Skilled (May 10, 2011)

If you do not have a reference number and you call Home affairs, they will ask for your passport number to look up for your application. If they can't find it with your passport number then it maybe because it wasn't captured or it was captured incorrectly. In this both cases, you need to go to you office of application with your passport and your receipt of payment. This receipt is needed to show them that you actually applied for a visa otherwise they wouldn't know if you are just lying or not. They have to find your application if they can't then it means its lost.

The SMS for finalisation will definitely come because the machine that send that SMS is at Head office not at office of application.

So if you can't track your application with your passport number or reference number it means it is lost in the system BUT can be certainly found later. The file is there and someone will work on it and processing you will get a final SMS.

You can insist at the office of application to search for your application of which they will tell you that its lost and they will ask you to do a new application. I hope it doesn't come to this.


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## Skilled (May 10, 2011)

Tim76 said:


> Lol. I fully agree. But I think the immigration agent submitted another copy of my app. The 1st one may have been lost but since nobody is taking the blame... any idea on how long will it take to be issued once in Pretoria?


3 months to 18 months. Mine took about 3 months most probably because they were doing a backlog clearing up. Unfortunately they process the permits randomly and prioritise those for proffesionals so I heard.


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## 2fargone (Jun 14, 2011)

Skilled said:


> If you do not have a reference number and you call Home affairs, they will ask for your passport number to look up for your application. If they can't find it with your passport number then it maybe because it wasn't captured or it was captured incorrectly. In this both cases, you need to go to you office of application with your passport and your receipt of payment. This receipt is needed to show them that you actually applied for a visa otherwise they wouldn't know if you are just lying or not. They have to find your application if they can't then it means its lost.
> 
> The SMS for finalisation will definitely come because the machine that send that SMS is at Head office not at office of application.
> 
> ...


Yes, As I said earlier we went to HA yesterday all good. She has a receipt which has her Invoice number and her name. Just was a mix-up with the DOB. But everything is good!


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