S.L. 217.6 Art. 9Notification of the decision.

(1) The Director shall give the sponsor, who has submitted the application for family reunification, written notification of the decision as soon as possible and in any event no later than nine months from the date on which the application was lodged:

Provided that in exceptional circumstances linked to the complexity of the examination of the application, the time limit referred to in this subregulation may be extended.

(2) The Director shall give the reasons for his decision when rejecting the application.

(3) In the event that the Director fails to give a decision within the period specified in subregulation (1), the application shall automatically be passed on for appeal to the Immigration Appeals Board in terms of regulation 22.