by AKANI CHAUKE
PRETORIA, (CAJ News) – SOUTH Africa’s Department of Home Affairs is battling a backlog of permanent and temporary residence permits.
It is unlikely to clear the backlog in the current year.
The current total pending applications is 78 815.
Home Affairs disclosed there are 23 adjudicators, each with a norm of 10 applications per day.
Realistically, the 23 adjudicators at a rate of 230 applications per day will take 339 working days to clear the backlog of 78 815.
The number of applications received for temporary residence per day is 7 700 per month or 92 400 per year.
“With the current capacity the Department will not be able to finalise this volume within the turnaround time,” Home Affairs stated.
The department noted that under the Disaster Management Regulations which was brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, capacity levels within the permitting unit was vastly reduced capacity due to the requirement of social distancing that was implemented.
“This contributed to the processing output being low and contributed to the accumulation of the backlog.”
During the pandemic both applications for Temporary Residence Visas and Permanent Residency permits was suspended.
When the suspension was lifted for both, a high influx of applications were experienced, which also contributed to the increased backlog.
– CAJ News