PASSOP has opened a ZDP Appeals Desk to assist Zimbabweans who applied for work permits/ study permits/business permits. We are monitoring the collection of permits at the Department of Home Affairs Regional Offices at Wynberg to assist with the problems faced by Zimbabweans who applied for these permits. If you are one of the Zimbabweans that applied for a permit under the ZDP, please read the following information and guidelines. Do not hesitate to contact us if you have any issues or questions.
ZDP APPEALS GUIDELINES
IMPORTANT NOTE: If your permit application under the ZDP is currently pending, you have the full right to work, study and have access to basic health care in South Africa. If your employer, your child’s school, or hospital is refuting this, our office can provide you with a letter that confirms the above to be true.
APPEALS PROCESS
- If you receive a second SMS from the Department of Home Affairs, wait at least 5 working days and then go to the Home Affairs Department offices where you applied to collect your results. There is currently a backlog so your results may not be ready until after the 5 working day period.
- When you are going to collect your results, make sure you bring your original passport.
- After you collect your results and your application is rejected, ask for a rejection letter from the Home Affairs officials before you leave. The rejection letter will tell you the reason why your application was rejected.
- When you have a rejection letter, you have to draft an appeal letter addressed to the Director General of the Department of Home Affairs.
- Depending on the reason for the decision to reject your application, you may be required to provide additional information together with your letter of appeal to the Department of Home Affairs.
- Submit the letter of appeal within 10 working days of receiving the outcome.
PENDING APPLICATIONS
If your work permit application is still pending, and if you are having problems with your employer or bank:
- Come to PASSOP to get a ‘right to work’/’right to health/ ‘right to education’ or bank letter.
IF THE PERMIT IS VALID FOR LESS THAN 4 YEARS
- Bring a copy of passport with the permit.
- If your permit was put on an old or expired passport while you now have a new passport, bring both copies of both the old and new passport
- Write a letter to the Director General in the Department of Home Affairs requesting for an extension of the permit deadline to 4 years or transfer of the permit to a new passport. (We can assist with writing this letter.)
- After such a letter has been sent to the Director General one should expect a reply after 6 weeks for the reply from the Department of Home Affairs.
GENERAL INFORMATION
- If you have lost the SIM card you used when you applied, do a sim-swap as soon as possible so that the Department of Home Affairs is able to communicate with you concerning the outcome of your permit application.
- The first SMS sent by Home Affairs acknowledging reception of your application contains a reference number. Please ensure that you write down this number somewhere safe in the event that your telephone or SIM card is lost or stolen.
- Please ensure that you keep your application receipt safe.
- If your fingerprints have not yet been taken, wait for an SMS from the Department of Home Affairs.
- In the case that your permit is missing at the Department of Home Affairs, the Department of Home Affairs is responsible for issuing you with a new work permit. PASSOP can assist you in drafting a letter to the Director General requesting for a replacement. You must also bring a copy of your passport, permit application receipt and letter from your employer.
HOW PASSOP CAN HELP
- Drafting appeal letters
- Drafting request for extension letters/request for replacement permit letters etc
- Draft ‘right to work’/’right to education’/’right to health’ or access to bank letters for clients
IMPORTANT CONTACTS
PASSOP Office in Wynberg: 021 820 4664
Home Affairs Pretoria- 012 810 7322
Department of Home Affairs (Toll Free)- 0800 2044 76
Home Affairs Wynberg- 021 763 6400/03
iam sitting in darkness made my permit application in december up to now have not recived even an acknowledgment sms from home affairs what should i do ? i did apply without a passport but my passport is out as of january plse highlit if u can
Hi Ngoni - don’t worry, your case is not an isolated one. Did you give your fingerprints when you applied for the permit in December? If not, that’s probably why you didn’t receive an sms, but home affairs is now in the process of sending out these smses to ask people to come and get fingerprints. Also, make sure that you still have the same phone number that you wrote when you applied. It also doesn’t hurt to go to the home affairs where you applied with your receipt to ask what the progress is. If you have any other worries or questions, you can either call our office at 021 820 4664 or come visit our office in Wynberg at 37 Church Street (300 metres up the street from Home Affairs).
Hi, l received a second sms on 11 May but until now its now more than 30 days l haven’t received anything they keep saying its not yet here we will call you, is this normal? Pliz Help.
Thanks.
Hi Henry,
It is unfortunately common to hear of this. It is happening to many people, they are told to wait after receiving second SMSs and we cannot accurately judge the wait time.
PASSOP had a meeting with Department of Home Affairs(DHA) officials at Wynberg Regional Offices and they explained a number of reasons why this is happening.Firstly,the SMSs are sent from Pretoria, and it takes some time for the permits to be delivered to outlying Department of Home Affairs Regional Offices where people applied eg: to Wynberg in Cape Town. Also, when the permits are received at these Regional offices, there are some admisitrative tasks that have to be completed before they start issuing out the permits.
When the DHA office where you applied finally receives your permit, they will contact you, advising you to come and collect it. You can try and call 0800 20 44 76 or 021 763 6400/03 and check on the progress of your application. Otherwise if you have the time and if you can afford to travel frequently, there is no harm in constantly coming to the DHA offies where you applied to check if its ready for collection. Don’t forget to carry your passport, receipt and reference number whenever you go to the DHA offices to check if its ready. Also make sure you maintain the same cellphone number that you used when you applied.
If you need more assistance,don’t hesitate to visit us at our Wynberg offices(37 Church Street). (very near the Department of Home Affairs in Wynberg)
Thanks .
The PASSOP Team
I applied for my work pemmit in Pretoria with my passport on 24 December 2010 but up to now 26june 2011 i have recieved nothing not even one sms . i once went ther to check and they said i should wait for the sms. Those who applied after me were called.
Hi William,
There are many people who applied towards the end of the application process i.e 31st December 2010, but who did not complete the application process. For instance,we are aware that fingerprints were not taken while some did not provide all the required information e.g letters from employers, copies of passports etc. You may be one of these people. If so, the Department of Home Affairs is still in the process of sending sms’s to these people.
You should receive the first sms in which the Department of Home Affairs acknowledges receipt of your application and provides a reference number which starts with ’1000′. After you receive this sms you will receive another one advising you to come to DHA offices where you applied for fingerprints to be taken. This sms may also advise you to provide additional information eg letter from employer (if you did not submit it when you completed the application forms in December 2010). It is when your fingerprints have been taken and when you’ve submitted all this information that you have to wait for the final sms advising you to collect the outcome of your application.
If you are not in the above category and if your fingerprints were taken when you applied, you should ask the officials to track your application in ther system to see if it was captured or you can enquire on the following number: 0800 2044 76 or 012 810 7322. (this number is free from a landline) For more info, advice and assistance, give us a call on 021 820 4664.
Thanks,
PASSOP Team
hi i am sadaqat ali i am from pakistan n i applay work permit rustenburg but i am sttil waiting
Hi
I am married to a SA citizen. I applied for a work permit through an agent. It got no where and eventually I got on bad terms with the agent as I had to go personally to Home Affairs to follow up on everything. Problem is that I don’t get the SMSs, the agent does. I applied in Sep last year for an endorsement on my relatives visa to a work permit. It got rejected as they claimed I didn’t submit documents regarding co-habilitation which wasn’t a requirement as I am married to a SA Citizen, the cohab documents are for couples in a life partnership. I appealed, but now I fear that may take even longer. I wanted to know if it is possible to cancel an appeal so that I can submit a new application, and if so, how can I do it.
Thanks.
P
Hi Phil,
Thanks for drawing our attention to you problem.
Unfortunately PASSOP is currently involved with ZDP permits. W do not ordinarily assist with permits that are applied for under Immigration Act eg relative permits, quota work permits, exceptional skills work permits etc. The best option for you to get accurate information on whether it is possible to cancel your appeal and submit a new application for either a work or relative permit, I am sure you should be able to get this kind of info from the Department of Home Affairs offices. The Department also has a duty to provide you with info regarding the requirements for applying for whichever permit/visa you would like to apply for. If you need further assistance please give us a call on 021 820 4663/4 or 084 026 9658.
Good luck,
Thanks
PASSOP Team
hi, i wanted to know long does it normally takes for one to recieve an sms. i applied for a permit in december till now i have heard nothing from home affairs m scared maybe my application was not successful and i l b forced to run up and down last minute
I applied for a wort pemmit on 24 December with my passport a letter from my employer but up to now i haven’t recieved any sms from Home affairs not even for confirmation. what must i do. I went to check on the 8 of June but i was told to wait for the sms and i am still waiting. Please help
I applied for a work permit in September last year together with my son’s who is 6 yrs old , I recieved an sms that his permit was approved but up till now I am told it has not been recieved at the office of appplication, and mine is still pending , please help as I am worried about mine and also the company that I am working for does not want to register me , they pay me cash although I have bank accounts they say they cannot pay me through the bank and now the bank cannot help me send money home as they say even though I have proof of employment they do not have proof of where the money is coming from, incase I am drug dealing etc . Please help as I cannot plan I have been working for this company for many years now. What shoul I do to be registered and contribute to UIF, BARGANING COUNCIL AND BE ABLE TO GET HELP AT THE BANK. PLEASE MAY YOU SEND REPLY TO THE ABOVE EMAIL.
Hi, I am asking on behalf of my domestic worker employed by me since 2008 and recruited from Fabulous Maids from a shortlist of 5 possibles…
Last year already she applied and obtained her passport - so this hurdle out the way !
She then started with the work permit application and was told to go to the Pretoria Home Affairs offices. She took off from work and stood in line for hours like all the other hopefuls and was then asked to form a separate line inside the home affairs office with other people where a certain “Moses” assisted them by taking in their passport and application forms and collecting the sum of R2200 from each without a receipt for the money paid. A week later she was called to collect her work permit and asked this Moses why it stated that it was issued at Harare and not Pretoria and also why it said visitor and not domestic worker as per the documentation I supplied her with..? Only valid for 2 years… He informed her that he can only fix this the following week as they were very busy. I phoned Moses and tried to get information from him regarding this suspicious document and he said that she should come back so that he could fix the work permit for her.
I took my domestic worker to the home affairs offices only to learn that no one knows who this Moses is and he also does not answer his phone anymore. By this time we learned from many other applicants that the same has happened to them…
I took Reason to the nearest Police station where they were not interested in helping her at all… just explained that she was a victim and that’s it !
What does she do now… crooked out of a lot of money with still no valid work permit in her passport - she is scared and I am asking for assistance to get her sorted out please..!
Thank you
Johann Venter
Hi I submitted my application and received my collection sms on March 16, and 4 months later there is nothing. I go there every 2 weeks and am told to come back because despatched not received. I also submitted a tracking enquiry through customer care where they told me it would be escalated to head office and would take 3 weeks. It has now been 6 weeks since I called and they still don’t have info even though it has been escalated to head office. I was also told i couldn’t travel until i received my permit but it has now become imperative for me to be able to leave and be able to come back. Do you have any reps in Joburg who could assist?
I applied for a work permit on 31 dec,till now l havent received anything my cell no is 0745295465 pliz assist me maybe l wrote a wrong no tell me whats going on
I jus want to know if lm going to be deported since l got the application form for a permit though lm stil on a waiting list for permit am l still safe with my work thank lm scared!