The Decentralisation of Visa Processing

Centralised adjudication reversed

In February/March 2022, the Department of Home Affairs decided that all final approval and processing of long-term visas would be submitted to the Head Office in Pretoria. This change led to incredible amounts of delay, extreme unhappiness of clients, and public outcry.

This change was not as effective as the DHA hoped, as the Head Office in Pretoria was not properly equipped or capable to process so many requests, leading to the aforementioned delays.

Many clients and immigration firms, including IBN, suggested the DHA reverse this decision due to the long waits that came with it, and finally these requests have been heard. As of 2 September 2022, this centralisation process has been reversed.

What does this mean for clients?

The bottleneck for submissions has been removed. Submission time should now be reduced greatly and be closer to what they were before these changes were made. During the centralisation process, certain visa requests could take up to 6/8 months for adjudication, but now we hope for a wait time closer to 2 to 8 weeks; this makes a drastic difference to clients.

A return to better visa processing times

We are hopeful that these changes will remain in place and are thankful that the DHA realised that the previous delays were unacceptable for clients. These changes would not have been possible without all the public complaints from immigration firms and clients alike. For that, we thank all those that spoke up regarding these delays; public opinion and complaints really do help in situations like these.