Not all African applicants get interview. As a matter of fact, there are fewer applicants who get interviewed than those who don't get interview requests. I, like many others in this thread, didn't get any interview request. You get interview requests only if there are areas in your applications that need clarification or your application is selected randomly during their schedule standard checks.I logged into the system. Here is a cut-and-paste.
Details about your application status
Application step
Observations:
- Review of eligibility Your application is in progress. We will send you a message when we start reviewing your eligibility
- Review of medical results You do not need a medical exam. We will send you a message if this changes.
- Review of additional documents We do not need additional documents.
- Interview You do not need an interview. We will send you a message if this changes.
- Biometrics We do not need your fingerprints. We will send you a message if this changes.
- Background check We are processing your background check. We will send you a message if we need more information.
- Final decision Your application is in progress. We will send you a message once the final decision has been made.
- Don't all applicants from Africa have to go through an interview? Do you think this is a placeholder text that is not adapted to the VO?
- Is normal that they would proceed with the background check *before* the SA ?
For your second question, I need more information about your timeline. SA is sponsor approval which you ought to have got even before your file is transferred to Accra. If you provide more info about your timeline maybe I'll be able to answer you more accurately. In any case, in recent times, starting with August applications, Background check seems to be starting very early now. They're no longer following the typical progression, it would seem.