Permit Renewals Take Forever

ALLOW me space in your esteemed paper to air my disappointment on the goings-on at the Ministry of Home Affairs and Immigration concerning work permits for foreigners.

I am a civil engineer from Europe and I submitted my forms for the renewal of my work permit five months ago. To date whenever I go there, which I now do twice a week, I am told that it has not been looked at yet.I have worked in Botswana, South Africa and Angola before coming to Namibia and in these countries work permit renewals take anything between 48 hours and two weeks.It beats all logic how just a “renewal” could take this long to be decided on.I thought a renewal should not take long since all the information is there with the original application but alas, I was wrong.On one of my many visits to enquire on the progress of my work permit, one lady manning the reception, probably after seeing me frequenting their office, asked me what it is that always brings me to them.I narrated my ordeal to her – how long my work permit has taken to be processed, how many times I have come to their offices and getting nothing, and how arrogant the staff there is.After listening to my story she bared her soul to me.She first wanted to know from me whether I went through an immigration agent or if I did it alone, to which I replied the latter.She smiled and then said: “Sir, this is Africa, here we do things differently”.She went on to tell me that the senior people in the Ministry own these ‘fly-by-night’ agencies and they always consider these applicants first so that they can make some money.She even suggested to me one ‘agent’ owned by one senior employee.She told me that next time I should go through it since I could have my permit in less than a fortnight.She went on to tell me that the Board that deliberates on the work permits should sit every Tuesdays but the sittings are so erratic that sometimes they can only sit once a month.She even told me that they have not sat as a Board since 24 May 2007.She told me that some members absent themselves on the day of their sitting, thereby depriving the Board of a quorum.From this discussion I concluded that there is a lot of corruption going on at the Ministry.I can safely challenge the Minister to explain why: (1) a ‘simple’ work permit renewal takes half a year to be dealt with.(2) why it is faster to go through an agent than to go solo (3) why the Board sits so erratically.Can I also take this opportunity to challenge the media to investigate the goings on there – I can assure you that you will get headline stories.Lastly, I assure you that there are many other foreigners with the same problem as mine.Frank Peters Via e-mailTo date whenever I go there, which I now do twice a week, I am told that it has not been looked at yet.I have worked in Botswana, South Africa and Angola before coming to Namibia and in these countries work permit renewals take anything between 48 hours and two weeks.It beats all logic how just a “renewal” could take this long to be decided on.I thought a renewal should not take long since all the information is there with the original application but alas, I was wrong.On one of my many visits to enquire on the progress of my work permit, one lady manning the reception, probably after seeing me frequenting their office, asked me what it is that always brings me to them.I narrated my ordeal to her – how long my work permit has taken to be processed, how many times I have come to their offices and getting nothing, and how arrogant the staff there is.After listening to my story she bared her soul to me.She first wanted to know from me whether I went through an immigration agent or if I did it alone, to which I replied the latter.She smiled and then said: “Sir, this is Africa, here we do things differently”.She went on to tell me that the senior people in the Ministry own these ‘fly-by-night’ agencies and they always consider these applicants first so that they can make some money.She even suggested to me one ‘agent’ owned by one senior employee.She told me that next time I should go through it since I could have my permit in less than a fortnight.She went on to tell me that the Board that deliberates on the work permits should sit every Tuesdays but the sittings are so erratic that sometimes they can only sit once a month.She even told me that they have not sat as a Board since 24 May 2007.She told me that some members absent themselves on the day of their sitting, thereby depriving the Board of a quorum.From this discussion I concluded that there is a lot of corruption going on at the Ministry.I can safely challenge the Minister to explain why: (1) a ‘simple’ work permit renewal takes half a year to be dealt with.(2) why it is faster to go through an agent than to go solo (3) why the Board sits so erratically.Can I also take this opportunity to challenge the media to investigate the goings on there – I can assure you that you will get headline stories.Lastly, I assure you that there are many other foreigners with the same problem as mine.Frank Peters Via e-mail