Blog

Home Affairs asks United Nations for help with Refugee backlog

On June 6, 2019 / by Andrew Wicks / Leave a comment

The Department of Home Affairs has approached the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to help it clear the 150 000 refugee status appeals backlog, according to Director of Asylum Seekers, Mandla Madumisa.

The SAHRC subpoenaed the Home Affairs Director-General to address complaints that the department takes an inordinately long time to process asylum applications and permanent residence permits. South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) chairperson Bongani Majola, said his institution had struggled to engage with Home Affairs for the past year so a subpoena was necessary.

Majola asked Home Affairs representatives if any progress had been made on the backlog of refugee appeals. Madumisa said a consultant from UNHRC was appointed and started in May. The consultant would assess the situation at Home Affairs and would come up with a comprehensive plan to deal with the backlog of asylum applications. By the end of July the department will receive that report and we will have a clear way forward on how they will deal with the backlog.

Home Affairs also struggled with the verification of information when it came to spousal visa applications. The turnaround time for the department is currently eight months but are looking into extending it to 18 months. Mavuso said the turnaround time depended on whether the information provided was easily verified.

SAHRC commissioner Angie Makwetla asked Mavuso whether Home Affairs kept the applicants informed on the status of their asylum applications “because a person can’t wait from 2016 to 2018 and not know what is happening”.

Jackie McKay, Deputy Director General of Immigration, responded: “We would love to do that. In fact any good department would do that. But I have 22 people who deal with all of these cases… I’m working my staff to the bone.”

He said Home Affairs did not have systems in place that could automate those updates but he said it was currently working on a system that would make it more efficient.

If you need any more information or help with obtaining a visa or permit, our Immigration consultants are here to help. Make sure you get in touch today for a seamless immigration process.

The following two tabs change content below.
Andrew Wicks

Andrew Wicks

Over the past 11 years, Andrew’s entrepreneurial spirit, as well as his business acumen, has led to the establishment of small to medium enterprises worldwide. Promising opportunities in the fields of IT, mobile distribution and advertising (amongst others) have been converted into successful business units in a variety of global markets. Andrew returned to South Africa after seven years in Europe to found Initiate International. He remains totally hands-on and has expanded the company across three continents.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *