IMCOSA Newsletter – Automatic visa extensions, digital nomads visa status, backlog project updates and more
Dear Clients, Partners, and Friends,
The first quarter of 2025 brings both positive developments and ongoing challenges regarding the Department of Home Affairs and its visa and immigration processes. Since Minister Schreiber assumed office in July 2024, we have observed several meaningful improvements. Where challenges persist—such as inconsistent decision-making quality resulting in high rejection rates, and limited application appointments—the Minister has acknowledged these issues and committed to addressing them promptly. While this commitment is encouraging, the practical effects remain mixed for many applicants.
Several initiatives have yet to meet expectations despite public announcements. The E-visa system continues to experience reliability issues, and the Digital Nomad Visa program, though technically available for up to three years, faces implementation barriers at most overseas missions. Nevertheless, we remain optimistic about the overall direction under the new administration. And can we not all do with some positivity at this current global and national moment?
Today’s newsletter covers:
• Latest Automatic Visa Extensions & Travel Directive
• Digital Nomad Visa Implementation Status
• SAQA Still Affecting Recruitment Timelines for International Staff
• Visa & Immigration Backlog Project Updates
• Recent Court Ruling on Application Submissions
• SmartID Availability for Naturalized Citizens and Permanent Residents
• New Immigration Advisory Board Appointment
• Current Processing Times and Trends
For more information, scroll down, visit our website or follow us on LinkedIn and Facebook for live updates.
Yours sincerely,
Julia Willand
Latest Automatic Visa Extensions & Travel Directive
The Minister of Home Affairs’ directive No 16 of 2024, issued on December 18, 2024, accommodatedthose affected by visa, waiver, and appeal processing backlogs by extending the travel exemption through March 31, 2025. This exemption received a partial extension on March 28, 2025.
Under the updated extension, individuals who applied for waivers or long-term temporary residence visas on or before March 28, 2025, and who have not yet received an outcome or have appealed a negative decision, may either continue their activities under their previous visa terms or leave the country by September 30, 2025, without incurring a re-entry ban.
Important Note: This update no longer covers short-term visitors and tourists seeking to extend their 30- or 90-day visas. Those awaiting short-term visa extensions whose previous visas expired during the waiting period were required to leave South Africa by March 31, 2025, or await their application outcome before departing. Those leaving after April 1, 2025, without receiving their extension may face a travel ban of one year or longer.
Digital Nomad Visa Implementation Status
Despite the Remote Worker or Digital Nomad Visa (DNV) being formally introduced in October 2024, practical implementation has progressed slowly. Most South African diplomatic missions abroad either do not yet accept these applications or fail to provide clear confirmation about their processes, creating uncertainty for potential applicants. To date, successful applications have been documented in the United States and United Kingdom.
Questions remain unanswered regarding eligibility for self-employed individuals with regular salaries or freelancers with established client relationships and proven track records. This represents another promising initiative hampered by implementation challenges.
SAQA Still Affecting Recruitment Timelines for International Staff
The Department of Home Affairs has significantly improved foreign skills recruitment by reducing processing times for work visas. While most visa categories require several months for adjudication, work visas are typically issued within 4-8 weeks after application submission—a notable achievement in prioritization.
However, preparation time before submission remains problematic. Applications for both critical skills and general work visas often require 4-8 months of preparation (in addition to processing time) due to foreign qualification evaluation requirements by the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA), which has experienced multi-year backlogs resulting in 3-6 month evaluation periods.
Acknowledging this bottleneck, the Minister issued directives in October 2024 allowing Critical Skills or General Work Visa applications to proceed without completed SAQA evaluations. Under this provision, work visas can be issued for 12 months and extended later. However, these directives have limited practical value since other requirements—particularly registration with and recommendations from professional bodies—typically require SAQA certification first. As a result, employers urgently seeking to address South Africa’s skills shortage through foreign recruitment continue to face delays.
Visa & Immigration Backlog Project Progress
Our previous newsletter detailed the Minister’s comprehensive backlog reduction initiative. The number of finalized applications by the end of 2024 was substantial. However, what appeared to be a policy of”finalize at all costs” and “reject when in doubt” has resulted in numerous legally flawed rejections and administrative errors, triggering a surge in rectification requests and appeals.
Visa Facilitation Services (VFS) offices struggled to meet the demand for application appointments, prompting the Minister to issue a directive extending the submission deadline to any date before March 31, 2025. This directive, which waived the requirement to submit appeals within 10 working days of receiving negative outcomes, has not been further extended. Both the Department and VFS now believe they can accommodate appointment requests within the standard timeframe.
Positively, some recurring errors have been addressed efficiently, with VFS returning problematic decisions to adjudicators for correction rather than requiring applicants to navigate the appeals process. The Minister has confirmed to parliament that appeals resolution remains a priority for 2025. While early results suggest improved decision quality and faster turnaround times compared to the historical 6-12 month timeline, more data is needed for definitive conclusions.
Court Ruling on Application Submissions
In March 2025, the courts reaffirmed that Department of Home Affairs officials cannot refuse to accept applications for citizenship, birth and marriage certificates, identity documents, and related matters at service counters. Contrary to practices observed at some Home Affairs offices, officials must accept all applications and allow the appropriate adjudicating authorities to evaluate their merits. This ruling provides helpful recourse when dealing with gatekeeping officials.
SmartIDs for Naturalized Citizens and Permanent Residents
A recent agreement between the South African Revenue Services (SARS), the Department of Home Affairs, and other agencies aims to enable naturalized South African citizens and permanent residents to apply for SmartID cards through the same process as citizens by birth or descent within the next 12 months. This enhanced interdepartmental cooperation should facilitate the Department of Home Affairs’ digital transformation efforts toward improved documentation and visa services while supporting more effective tax collection and fraud prevention by SARS.
New Immigration Advisory Board Appointment
In another positive development, the Minister of Home Affairs has appointed a new Immigration Advisory Board (IAB) under the leadership of Mavuso Msimang, former Director-General of Home Affairs and Head of Operation Vulindlela (responsible for reducing government bureaucracy). This multi-stakeholder body will provide diverse expertise to guide the Minister on policy matters, including resolving the ongoing situation with Zimbabwean Exemption Permit (ZEP) holders.
Current Processing Times and Trends
As mentioned earlier, results for both long-outstanding and recent applications continue to be issued. The backlog reduction coincides with shortened processing times—a significant improvement despite certain challenges. The following averages and estimates are particularly difficult to make at this point in time and provided for reference but should not be considered legal advice. Please consult your dedicated consultant in our team for case-specific guidance:
• Permanent Residence: Critical skills, work, and business applications: 4-12 months; all other categories: 2-3 years
• Temporary Visa Applications: Tourist visa extensions: 1-2 months; critical skills and business visas: 1-2 months; study visas: 1-3 months; other categories: 2-5 months (improving)
• Overseas Visa Applications: 2-16 weeks, depending on category and consular location
• Appeals: Temporary residence: 3-6 months; permanent residence: 6-12 months
• Citizenship: Select processes: 2-3 months, others significantly longer[1]
While IMCOSA clients generally continue to benefit from our high success rate, we have received some unfounded rejections. By promptly adapting our guidance to changing trends and providing cautious advice, we minimize such occurrences.
For questions regarding active or planned applications, please contact us directly.