You would need a letter of demand as the first action towards the court case. For a letter of demand to be valid, there are specific elements (requirements) that needed and also specific requirements to how and to whom it needs to be delivered. So I dont suggest you do it yourself. I recommend a Lawyer does it for you. If you do it yourself, and the letter of demand is defective, your court case is likely to be thrown out, after you have already incurred legal costs

The lawyers you will be using for the court case can do it for you as the first step towards the court case.

 

It seems like an unwritten rule that we don’t do this ourselves and we use a third party to send the letter. Why is this the case?

Regarding the structure of the letter, that is basic information that could be shared.

The requirements of the contents of the letter would also be basic.

And there is nothing more basic than the recipient, address and method of communication.

I understand this is an avenue for revenue for immigration professionals. Is this the only reason why the basic information would be withheld?

Thoughts:

• Perhaps DHA would not take demand letters seriously if they were from individual.
• Maybe they would expedite fewer applications and demand letters would lose their value if too many were received?
• even if the demand letters have a 50/50 success rate, it remains the most cost effective chance to expedite an application and the best first option for chasing an overdue application
• but not when the basic (IF it’s basic) information is behind a paywall.

No offence intended to legal professionals at all, but not everyone can afford to engage in legal services.

Edit;

This seems like an interesting topic for a new thread I’ll repost

 

It seems like an unwritten rule that we don’t do this ourselves and we use a third party to send the letter. Why is this the case?

A letter of demand is the 1st step towards litigation. And litigation requires a 3rd party (i.e. Lawyers). The procedural requirements for litigation are very cumbersome. And if 1 aspect of the procedure is defective, then the courts dont even look at the merits. You have to start again. For example,there are specific number of days, minimum, you should give the departmentto respond. If, lets say, that 21 days, you have to wait 21 days after serving in order to take the next steps. If the court finds that you letter of demand was defective, then you have to start by serving a correct one, and wait another 21 days. So because the letter odf demand aspects are many, if you do it yourself (or get someone not experienced) you might fail multiple times
Be that as it may, a letter of demand is not expensive from Lawyers. It could be as little as R300 (the only caveate is the consultation fee).

 

I appreciate your point of view.

It just surprised me upon learning this seems to be a necessary step but there is precious little detail.

Doing an application itself is fraught with stumbling blocks as well, of course it would be best for those who are able to engage the services of a legal professional well versed in immigration law.

That being said however, I still do not see why a more thorough exploration of the details of this crucial, yet entirely procedural step are not more widely available.

So far, this thread has gleaned valuable information which I have not found elsewhere;

• A reasonable timeframe must be given for a response. This could be 21 days but I assume 30 is still reasonable.
• The letter must be sent to a specific place. This might depend on place of residence?
• There is a specific method of communication. I assume this is ed post? And not electronic mail.
• It stands to reason that the full name, port number and application number is essential.
• As well as steps taken so far with regard to enquiries, including dates and types of enquiry.

Does this cover the basics? It must be quite a common practice.

Interested in any and all input