When my passport was stolen, I filled out a police report, went to the US embassy to apply for a new passport. The embassy was, of course, beautiful with benches to sit on while you waited and photographs of the Golden Gate Bridge and Yellowstone National Park hanging on the walls. The process was organized and efficient as they quickly entered my old passport number into the system. I had a new passport within 7 days. I was never so proud- or at least grateful- to be an American.
Then it was time to get my Visa replaced, since it had been in the stolen passport. I brought the new passport along with my full original visa application, police affidavit AND a copy of my old visa to Department of Home Affairs. I asked which queue to stand in, someone point, I wait there for 3 hours. I got to the desk and the woman took my things, entered the number of the visa and said, "We have no record of your visa. You need to apply for a new visa. Stand in that queue."
Knowing I could not handle anymore for the day, I left. I returned the following day to stand application queue. When I got to the front, I handed her the application. She looked at it while I start the conversation.
[Back and forth of a typical SA greeting omitted]
Me: My passport and the visa inside it was stolen. I have the police affidavit here. I just need a replacement visa put in my new passport.
Lady: where is the receipt from your deposit?
Me: what deposit?
Lady: You need to make a R7000 deposit ($1000) before we give you a visa.
Me: That can't be right. I've never made that deposit before when i got my visa.
Lady: well you have to.
Me: It just doesn't makes sense. I paid $70 to get the visa in the states.
Lady: well here you pay R7000.
Me: What? Why.
Lady: In case they need to deport you. You can make the deposit in that queue (she points.)
Me: No. I am not making a R7000 deposit. It doesn't make sense.
Lady: You get it back. from your Embassy.
Me: (certain if I made a deposit in SA DHA I would NEVER see it again.) It just doesn't make sense. I already HAVE a visa I just need a replacement copy of it for my new passport. Can't you call the consulate in Chicago, USA and just verify it?
Lady: No. We can't do that. We can't make calls from here.
Me: Ok. So there is no way to just get a replacement?
Lady: (looks at my stuff. looks at copy of my visa. looks at police report) Oh. You just need RE-ISSUING. Fill out this form.
See, I didn't know the word "Re-issuing" which is apparently the secret code word.
So I filled out form. She handed me a letterhead paper filled out with my name and birthday as proof-of-application and then tells me to come back in 30 working days to redeem my visa. I got an SMS the next day saying the DHA has received my visa application and gives me reference number and a number to call for inquiries. That was in November.
I returned to pick up my Visa in January, 45 working days after I submitted the application. I got there at opening hours so, luckily, I ddidn't have to wait long in line. The woman at the desks asked my surname and, with her finger, traced down a list of hundreds of names in a stapled packet of paper. The names were not in alphabetical order or in any other order. When she got to the last page, she took my proof of application, stamped it with a date stamp and said, "Its not ready yet." Since miraculously, no one is in line behind me, I continue my inquiry.
Me: Oh. OK. But it hasn't been declined?
Lady: No. It isn't ready.
Me: Would you know if it had been declined from that paper?
Lady: your name isn't on here.
Me: Alright. I have a reference number. Is there some way we can check its progress or see when it might be done?
Lady: No. Come back in 2 weeks.
Me: Yes. I will.
At this point, I laughed. Honestly, I shocked myself at my lack of frustration or homesickness. I'd honestly gone in expecting it not to be ready, though I'd waited past the day it was supposed to be done. My good humor most likely was aided by not having to wait in a long queue (a fortune I would never again know.) But overall, though annoyed, I was satisfied with myself for my reaction and felt like I was getting good at South Africa.
However...
4 weeks later (last week) I returned to DHA. It was 30 something degrees C outside and the heat inside was oppressive. We were about 100 people squeezed into a tiny room. It smelled like body odor and people were rubbing up against me. The White woman behind me asked me to hold her place in line for while she ran for air. When she snuck back in line and thanked me, we got looks of rage from the other people and heard a man mumble, "Acht! White People!" The woman in front of me was holding a child who pulled out mom's breast and started sucking away, a clear breech of cultural norms in SA (so don't try to pull that one on me.) Given the nature of the queue, she was likely foreign. Yes, the feminist-hippie in me says, "Its natural and beautiful." But the girl-in-a-hot-stuffy-room-waiting-in-a-queue-for-the-4th-time in me says, "Really?! Now I have exert the effort to not be awkward. I have no where to face but forward and now I figure out to avoid looking while not seeming like I'm trying not to look." The old man behind me was so close to me that anytime there was any movement in the queue, his crotch hit my leg. Part of the reason I stuck up for white lady while she squeezed back into her spot in the queue to intercept the old man junk's proximity. It was the longest 2.5 hours yet.
When I got to the front of the line, the lady checked her non-alphabetical order print out of hundreds of names again. "Not ready!" she said as she stamped my paper again and looked behind me, "Next!"
Now I was concerned and in a helpless voice I asked, "Um. Do you think we can find out if something is wrong? I filed this in November. Its been too long." A different lady took pity, grabs my paper and verifies the submission date. She makes the first lady look at the list of names again, which makes her scowl and snap, "SHE ISN'T ON THE LIST!" Luckily, lady #2 seemed to be on my side and said, "Give me your passport."
I hesitatingly handed it to her. (Rewind to my other SA government experience back in October. I'd gone to the Motor/Traffic Office 2 weeks after applying for a traffic registration number to pick it up as directed. They lost my queue number, so I never got called up. It wasn't until the office was closing that they listened to my pleas that my number had been skipped. They went then to look for the thing I was there to pick up. They asked for my passport and brought it to the back while they "worked on" my application since it had mistakenly not been processed. When someone else asked for my passport, I told them I'd already given it to the guy with the glasses and red shirt. When I saw through the glass him shrugging in response to this person's question, I knew there was a problem. They came back and said, "Did [this other lady] give it back to you?" I told them a stern yet anxious no. They spent the next hour and a half searching for the passport in the back. Funny part is, when the found it, I tucked it safely back in my wallet with a relief. Later that day, before I stopped at home to drop off my passport, I was mugged and my wallet was stolen. Brilliant. God love SA.) Back to DHA, a few moments later, she came back with my passport.
Lady: It isn't ready. Come back.
Me: Is there some way to tell if it is at least being processed? It has been too long.
Lady: We don't have the applications here. They go to a different office so we can't check. (She looks at my puppy dog eyes and generously grabs a pen) Here. (She writes a FAX number on the back of the sheet.) This is the fax number of the place where the applications go. You can fax this [proof of application] sheet. Just fax it to them. Just this paper.
I thank her and leave, though unsure of (1) how I am going to do with a fax number given that, well, I live in a dorm room and don't have a phone line, much less a fax machine; (2) what will happen when I do send a fax since generally faxes are kind of a one-way deliverance of information; and (3) what I should do in the meantime without a visa. I am sure the application has been lost. I've done everything I can. I have a copy of my old visa, a police affidavit that it was stolen, and proof of application and status checking a new one. That might be good enough to plead with if needed. Then again, I am technically on a tourist visa which is going to expire on April 6th which result in me getting fines for overstaying that Visa when I leave. I'd cross the border to Botswanna or Swaziland, but border hopping is frowned upon and they may give me problems (given my luck). The recommendation is to fly out at least 2 countries away for at least a week... an expensive and inconvenient trip just to return for 3 weeks. I am not sure what to do.
The worst part is trying to decipher what exactly this proof-of-application says about what I should do while I wait for my visa:
1. The onus rests with you to enquire (YES! THIS SPELLING!) about the outcome of the application on/after 30 working days.
2. Submit your passport together with the receipt to obtain endorsement.
3. If you have applied for permit to take up employment/study, you should note that he receipt is not a work/study permit. You must therefore await approval of your application before commencing any work/study activity.
4. Please note that if your application is not successful, you have to leave the Republic of South Africa on/before the date notified to you in writing my the Department. Should you fail to do so, you will be dealt with as a prohibited person in terms of Section 26 (7) of the said Act.
5. You are requested to await the outcome of your application before you leave the Republic of South Africa. On your return, please ensure that you are in possession of a valid work permit.
Aside from the fact that these instructions do not take into account the incompetency and inefficiency of SA in general, they also need a special clause:
6. If you are Andrea Dean, South Africa hates you. However, since you are spending American money here, we prefer that you stick around. Therefore, we are going to make your life fairly difficult and sad while giving you just enough hope to get through it. Therefore, we will leave you guessing about your Visa application in order to keep you confused and miserable, without just plain kicking you out. Good luck.
(By the way, I've since sent the fax with a big note on the top that says "PLEASE CALL ### REGARDING THIS APPLICATION." I, of course, have heard nothing.)
New Update: This morning I called the number provided and gave them my reference number. The woman told me my application is still at the place for which I applied for it, i.e. the Department of Home Affairs. "You must go there and ask for it."
Me: But the told me you had it in the main office and that I needed to contact you.
Lady: No. It shows it hasn't left the office of application.
Me: But I submitted it in November. Is it lost?
Lady: No. It is in the system. So it isn't lost. It is just still there. Go ask the immigrations officer.
Me: I was there last week. They looked for it. It wasn't there.
Lady: Just go back.
Me: Thank you for your help.
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