The outsourcer of nothing

<p>It has been 8 months since my wife's residence permit application has been sat with the Department of "Home" Affairs - I can't call it home, because according to the law, my wife is still a guest. "Home" Affairs made the wonderful decision to outsource its own extremely poor application process to a company (VFS Global) whose expertise in this subject is **********ly poor. It apparently has the job of the following: "Sir, the application is still with Home Affairs", or "Sir, the application is not with Home Affairs". Of course, it has a website, where one can insert one's reference code, and it spits out that same answer. The answer of course, will not include, let's say, a progress update on WHERE it is in the process, or an escalation process that actually results in something, or at the very least, an expected conclusion date. I have escalated now 3 times, each time with a plea for help - because, as I stated to the bored an uninterested call centre operator, without the permit, international travel is only possible if you are prepared the deal with the many thousands of rands fine (at best), or at worst, denial of entry back into the country (my wife has been here since 2009). But of course, cutomer centricity is not something government departments care about, nor do their suppliers. The fact that I pay their salary is somehow lost on them.</p> <p>So, the next question I ask, considering that I get zero assistance from this non-entity that is VFS global, is who can I speak to at the Department, to establish the whereabouts of the permit application, and what I can do to expedite an 8 month old, dust collecting application. The answer I receive after a confused silence, is that they don't know which depertment to speak to or who in which department I should speak to.</p> <p>I have apprently been promised a call back from the call-center supervisor, who may or probably won't be able to help me.</p> <p>This is insanity. </p>