Crucial deadline coming for visas in South Africa this month
Visa applicants with pending waivers and appeals could be forced to leave South Africa at the end of March due to delays at the Department of Home Affairs.
By March 2026, visa applicants with pending waivers and appeals still stuck at Home Affairs could be forced to leave soon when the current visa concession expires.
The concession has been granted several times since 2022, but there is no clear indication that reprieve will be granted again.
The concession was designed to protect lawfully present foreign nationals from falling into undesired status while awaiting Home Affairs’ outcomes.
After it lapses, the protection falls away, which will require affected individuals to depart the country and risk an undesirable status declaration upon exit.
Immigration attorneys at Visa Litigation Services (VLS) said the situation has left foreign nationals with limited choices: either escalate via litigation or fly out of South Africa to avoid overstaying their visas.
If no further extensions are granted, a pending outcome may not be enough to protect lawful status.
The cost of a last-minute flight will also be incredibly high, with airlines around the world charging far more.
This comes amid the war in the Middle East, where the USA and Israel launched attacks on Iran, which has retaliated by limiting the world’s energy supply.
This has increased the cost of air travel, with Brent crude rising to around $120 per barrel.
“Affected applicants who face this uncertainty deserve better,” said VLS.
“Some have been in South Africa for decades, are married to South African citizens or permanent residents and have been waiting on DHA’s adjudication outcome since 2022. This is not their fault, and it is unacceptable.”
Given it is their role, VLS said that litigation offers a cheaper and more stable alternative than exiting the country.
“This is not just about paperwork, but about staying in the country, maintaining employment, and protecting families,” it said.
“The question now is whether the concession, as a protection mechanism designed to fix the uncertainty and anxiety caused by processing delays, will end and what the legal consequences will be if it does.”
The law experts stressed that remaining attentive to the department’s announcements is key, given the concession’s deadline.
Backlog clears
While an extension of the concession has not been announced, a major cause for its existence, a large backlog of visas, has mostly been dealt with by the department.
Home Affairs has battled a backlog for close to a decade, with over 300,000 applications at the start of 2024.
Given the size of this backlog and the number of visas expiring, the department offered concessions allowing foreigners with pending waivers and appeals to remain in the country.
However, the department was able to clear the backlog by 2025.
However, Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber extended the concession to March 31 2026, due to the rise in waiver and visa appeal applications.
The concession also ensured that foreign travellers with a pending waiver or visa appeal could re-enter South Africa.
While the concessions have been extended before, Home Affairs usually waits until the last minute to offer any changes.
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