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JS
James S

1 reviews | Active since Dec 2025

13 Dec 2025, 13:02

The worst! Avoid the Cape Town Office if you can

One would think, with all of the horrible reviews they’ve received over the years, the office would be crawling with retraining and quality control teams. It’s not. I received the same inept service as many of the previous reviews; repeated visits for the same issue, unreliable information, poor service etc.. I finally gave up and requested a refund. After writing a detailed email to the management team AND the address they provide on this site, I received several automated reply emails but no follow up from management. One gentleman did reach out by email for more details about my payment, but didn’t provide any information about how or when I would receive a refund. Complete silence since then. If you have the opportunity to apply to anywhere else, don’t go to the Cape Town office!

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JS
James S's update13 Dec 2025, 13:36
Reviewer Update
Additional information for those who want more than an auto reply from VSF


📌 1.

Department of Home Affairs (DHA) – Complaints & Service Queries

Since VFS works on behalf of the Department of Home Affairs, you can direct complaints about poor service, delays, or misconduct to DHA’s official contact channels:

📍 Contact Centre (General enquiries / complaints)

  • 📞 Within South Africa: ***
  • 📞 From abroad: +***7
  • ✉️ Email: ***
    (This channel handles visa/immigration enquiries and service complaints including issues with VFS processing)
Tip: When emailing, include: ✔ Your full name ✔ Passport number and application reference number ✔ VFS centre/location used ✔ Details of your complaint (dates, staff interactions, etc.) ✔ Any supporting documents (screenshots, receipts, emails) 📌 2. Office of the Director-General of DHA If ordinary complaint channels don’t help, you can escalate to the Director-General of Home Affairs — the senior civil servant in charge of the department: Mailing address: Director-General Department of Home Affairs 230 Johannes Ramokhoase Street (Hallmark Building) Pretoria, 0001 South Africa Emails (from court documents): 📧 *** 📧 *** (These are listed in public court documents — more useful for formal correspondence than general enquiries) 📌 3. Presidential Hotline (if unresolved) If DHA doesn’t respond or you’ve exhausted all options, you can contact the Presidential Hotline, which accepts service delivery complaints across government: 📞 17737 (within South Africa) 📠 Fax: *** ✉️ Email: *** (Best used after trying DHA directly) 📌 4. Your Country’s Embassy/High Commission If your visa was submitted abroad, and especially if service issues relate to the mission or foreign VFS centre, you can also:
  • Contact the South African Embassy/High Commission where you submitted the application
  • Ask them to escalate complaints to DHA directly
This is particularly useful for long delays or lack of communication.