If your visa expires or has expired while waiting for your extension application or waiver application, your expired visa will remain valid until 31 March 2023. This is a result of a – first unpublished – Circular of the Department of Home Affairs.
This means: Even if you depart and have only an expired visa to show, you will not be declared undesirable and not banned from the country if you show your VfS submission receipt when exiting. If you want to re-enter and your visa extension or waiver has still not been processed, you can do so by showing your VfS Submission Receipt upon your return to South Africa.
The Department of Home Affairs is still in total disarray and the backlog of applications exceeds 50 000. The decision to process also all applications submitted abroad in Pretoria has now been reversed, which will hopefully lead to a shrinking backlog.
If you are sick and tired of those extensions, ever-changing temporary visa conditions and fear of not qualifying for entry at some stage, please contact us at visa@into-sa.com to discuss YOUR way to permanent residency. It is often simpler and faster than you think!