1. The failure by the Department to make decisions on:

• Pending permanent residence (“PR”) applications that are in excess of eight months since submission;
• Pending visa applications that are in excess of one month since submission;
• Pending appeals against visa or PR refusals;
• Pending overstay matters where the foreign applicant has been declared undesirable and no outcome has been obtained beyond thirty days.

2. High Court Interventions to finalise delayed submissions for:

• Permanent residence applications over eight months;
• Visa applications over one month;
• Appeals on visas and permanent residence delayed over one month
• Declaration of undesirability delayed beyond one month
• Pending Good Cause delayed beyond one month

3. What do Smiedt & Associates do to finalise these matters?

You will provide Smiedt & Associates with a copy of your visa or permanent residence application or appeal of pending declaration of undesirability submitted to the Department and we will look through it to ensure that it is complete and compliant.

Note: You may be in South Africa or abroad. It does not matter where you are to litigate against Home Affairs. Remember, you need not attend court. You will merely sign the papers we prepare and leave the rest to us.

Once we are happy with the visa or permanent residence submission, we will in a short turnaround of a day or two prepare court papers and send same to you via email to sign and return once signed off correctly.

We then launch the application very quickly and get a court date and on the date we take a court order without any need for our client to attend court to compel and force the Department to finalise the pending visa, permanent residence, appeal or ban in a very short timeline.

The Department will then send the outcome to us or directly to VFS to complete the process.

In this way, you are able to control your destiny and not wonder when, how or if your delayed application will be finalised.

Smiedt & Associates are contacted both from abroad and within South Africa for such litigation services on a weekly basis to assist and expedite pending applications by its clients who are frustrated with such unwanted delays and thereby provide necessary assistance and relief to those foreign persons who may feel helpless waiting for an adjudication.