Newsletter December 2025

IMCOSA Newsletter – A special Thank You as IMCOSA turns 20, the brand-new Immigration White Paper, New Visa Categories and Process Alerts

Dear Clients, Partners and Friends,

As you are about to knock off for the festive season, allow me to share a few words and important updates to close off an eventful anniversary year. This year was marked by travel, growing interest in South Africa – driven both by local stabilization and by global uncertainty – and a wave of immigration policy changes, some exciting and some requiring careful planning.

At age 20, IMCOSA stands proud and unwavering. We look back at two decades of navigating the sometimes treacherous waters of South Africa’s visa, immigration and citizenship landscape, so that our clients don’t have to. I give my tremendous respect and gratitude to our team, including those who are no longer with us or have moved on over the years. They are the amazing core of this company, and their dedication, passion, professionalism and empathy have helped IMCOSA succeed and build its reputation for ethical, capable, cutting edge and human-centered visa and immigration services.

A special thank you also goes to our incredible network of partners and friends near and far. Your trust and expertise throughout the years have been everything. They are threads woven into IMCOSA’s tapestry. I have come to learn that connections with like-minded people who share one’s ethics and values are invaluable, and I hope we will continue to go far together.

May you all close this year gently and with gratitude for all the good things it has brought. May you thrive in 2026 and may we all play our part in making the world a little kinder next year.

Read our first impressions of the hot-off-the-press Immigration White Paper, and the following updates from 2025:

• White Paper on Immigration boldly builds on latest innovations – What to look out for
• Making a visa application from within South Africa? Beware of the 60-day Rule
• LATEST LIMITED Automatic Visa Extensions & Travel Exemptions (October 2025)
• ZEP & LSP Extended (October 2025)
• Citizenship Restoration Portal for South Africans Abroad
• Current Processing Times and Trends

For more information, scroll down, visit our website or follow us on LinkedIn and Facebook for live updates (links below).

Yours sincerely,

Julia and the IMCOSA Team

White Paper (CIRP) boldly builds on latest innovations – What to look out for

The White Paper on Citizenship, Immigration and Refugee Protection (CIRP) was published on 12 December 2025. In South African law, a White Paper is a policy document that proposes new laws or amendments as a basis for public consultation and debate. This White Paper is a well thought-through, balanced and structured policy. Aside from minor inconsistencies, it appears practical and fair. It is the best attempt I have seen in 25 years to balance the Department of Home Affairs’ objectives of protecting borders and the labour market with enabling economic growth. Digital transformation is proposed as a key enabler both of opening borders to investment, skills and dynamic exchange, and of greater control and closing loopholes to combat abuse. The policy is ambitious in many aspects and will take years to implement fully but allows for a gradual approach.

Key Objectives Include:

1. Policy and structural adjustments as well as further strides in the digital transformation will improve efficiency (reducing and preventing backlogs), effectiveness and alignment with law.
2. Abuse of the asylum system leads to overload of administration, social services and the labour market. Strict application of the internationally recognized first-country principle, and Refugee Reception Offices placed at ports of entry will vastly reduce the number of asylum seekers in the country.
3. Pathways to permanent residence and citizenship will be made more flexible to attract investors, entrepreneurs and others who contribute to South Africa’s economy and society, whilst restricting overall numbers through quotas, points-based systems (PBS) and application window periods.
4. An Intelligent Population Register (IPR) and Universal Civil Registration for all who are in the country (regardless of immigration status) will allow for greater control (including detection of undocumented individuals) and improved planning, banking and taxing.
5. Numerous visa changes will make the immigration system more responsive to the economy’s needs, while remaining aligned with constitutional and human rights.
6. Transparency, legality and policy alignment will be improved through dedicated organs, including a Citizenship Advisory Panel (CAP), a Home Affairs Review/Appeals/Waivers/Exemptions Authority and dedicated Immigration Courts.

New Visa Categories or Processes

Several new visas and initiatives have been introduced or expanded in 2025 and demonstrate an immigration system that is flexible and responsive to market needs, as envisaged in the White Paper.

1. The Electronic Traveller Authorisation (ETA) has already been launched for travellers from certain non-exempt countries. It allows for online visitors’ visa applications with digital biometrics capturing and instant approvals. The White Paper suggests that the ETA will become the single point of application for all visa categories in the coming years.
2. The Trusted Employer Scheme (TES) previously reported on in IMCOSA newsletters, offering alleviated work visa conditions and procedures to pre-vetted employers, has gone into its second round.
3. The Trusted Tour Operator Scheme (TTOS) allows vetted tour operators to log their clients’ details through a dedicated online system to enable faster visa results for them.
4. The Meetings, Events, Exhibitions, and Tourism Scheme (MEETS) is a dedicated visa for international attendees of major conferences, sporting events, exhibitions, and other global events. The online visa application and processing ensures quick turnaround times and ease of application for international delegates and event attendees.
5. The Screen Talent and Global Entertainment Scheme (STAGES) is for entertainment professionals in the film industry. Visas can be applied online via a digital system, ensuring quick decisions and removing the need for in-person visits to South African missions overseas.
6. The Remote Worker or Digital Nomad Visa (DNV) has been widely implemented in missions across the globe. The DNV rules may become more flexible in future.

The White Paper proposes additional visa categories.

• A new Sports & Arts Visa will be introduced to attract talent exchange with South Africa.
• Bilateral Migration: In a bold move that aims to address a set of long-standing and sensitive challenges around cross-border migration within the SADC zone, structured and cooperative agreements are planned with the immediate neighbouring countries to replace previous exploitative colonial agreements and the special exemptions for Zimbabwean, Lesotho and Angolan nationals. It is envisaged to allow for controlled cross-border movement and work across all skills levels.
• A socio-politically progressive Climate Change Migration Policy is thought to protect the ever-growing number of people displaced by climate disasters.

Planned Changes to Existing Visas

• Start-Up and Business Visas: entrepreneurs with innovative and promising start-ups will be able to apply for a dedicated Start-Up Visa instead of having to secure a special (and time-consuming) exemption from high investment requirements. Business visas are to become Investment Visas, whereby the investment requirement will be regularly updated and the job creation requirement sector based.
• Retirement Visas: A minimum age limit and higher income threshold may well be introduced, whereby age exemptions can be sought by wealthy younger applicants.
• Financial Independence: A particular minimum net worth may no longer lead to permanent residence but instead to an investment-based visa, on condition that a portion of the net worth is invested in South Africa for a specified period.  
• Work Visa: The Critical Skills Visa and the General Work Visa will be replaced by a points-based Skilled Worker Visa, sponsored by the employer and available to employees across all skills/education/experience levels.
• Accompanying family: Dependents accompanying a visa holder will continue to qualify for respective residence visas. To work, spouses will still need their own visas but may enjoy partly relaxed conditions.
• Corporate Visas for short-term and seasonal work will be replaced by a Sectoral Visa, details of which have not been disclosed.
• Family-based visas: The South African citizens or permanent residents are proposed to be the main applicants and sponsors in applications for Relatives Visas and spousal work / section 11(6) visas. Instead of separate visas for working spouses and life partners, there will be a Relatives Visa (Spouse) that will allow for work.

Other Important Proposals

1. Overstaying a visa validity without applying for an extension or change in time currently leads to travel bans of 1 / 5 years, depending on the length of the overstay. The White Paper proposes a return to the previous system of administrative fines for visa overstays, issued on departure and to be paid up before re-entry to South Africa can be allowed. Fines are set to be hefty to act as a deterrent and generate income for the Border Management Authority. Work Visa overstays are set to lead to a declaration as undesirable, which will bar overstayers from work visa sponsorship in future, unless / until expunged.
2. To combat corruption, raise the quality of visa, immigration and citizenship service standards, and to protect non-nationals from exploitation, the White Paper proposes the return to only allowing registered Immigration Practitioners, Attorneys and Advocates to act on behalf of clients before the Department of Home Affairs and its service providers. The successful Immigration Summit hosted by our industry body FIPSA in October 2025 and attended by IMCOSA, contributed to improved relations with government officials which may have supported this move for greater recognition and protection of the industry.

Where Does This Leave You?

Comments on the White Paper (CIRP) are invited until 31 January 2026, and public consultations will take place from mid-January 2026. For the moment, the above are merely proposals and have to be presented to and adopted by parliament before they can become law. This may take several months and even years.

However, the White Paper provides an indication of where the government is heading, and it will be prudent to prepare for potential changes in legislation. While these proposals will take time to become law, there are practical steps you can take now.

What Can You Do?

• If you are currently considering applying for a visa, permanent residence permit or citizenship and meet the criteria, don’t delay. Particularly retirees, financially independent persons, investors and possibly workers should make their applications as soon as they can.
• Citizenship by naturalisation (at age 18) based on being born in South Africa is set to be abolished, so if you qualify, make your application without delay.
• Employers ensure that your employees hold valid statuses which allow them to work in your organization. Operation New Broom, the multi-agency, intelligence-driven enforcement operations targeting undocumented foreign nationals in metropolitan areas during 2025 will only be expanded on. Advanced technologies and strategic partnerships have improved detection, operational efficiency, and cross-government coordination. The phasing in of biometrics capturing of all arrivals to South Africa will assist with this and make it harder to go undetected.
• Seek professional help from a FIPSA-registered Immigration Practitioner, attorney or advocate.

Making a visa application from within South Africa? Beware of the 60-day Rule

Perhaps you were planning to arrive in South Africa and apply for a tourist visa extension to stay for the long summer. Perhaps you repeat this process every year. Or you may have graduated and are waiting for your results or university admission. A significant change has come into effect in recent months that could impact your plans.

Until recently, it was possible to submit an extension (or change of status or conditions) application up until the very last day of your visa’s validity, provided you had a reason for applying “late” (i.e. within 60 days of expiry). This is no longer accepted.

In recent months, Home Affairs has begun strictly enforcing a 2014 regulation, in terms of which applications for an extension or change of visa must be submitted at least 60 days before expiry. Applications lodged within the 60 days prior to expiry are now being rejected as “late applications.” Even proven and compelling reasons for the delay are no longer being considered, and this practice is being applied retrospectively, affecting even the applications already lodged before the change in policy.

What this means for you:

Long-term visitors and tourists: Submit your visa extension application as early as possible after arriving in South Africa.

Job or school changes, or long-term visa renewals: Begin preparations well in advance of your visa expiry date.

If in doubt or already running out of time: Get expert advice immediately.

Latest LIMITED Automatic Visa Extensions & Travel Exemptions (October 2025)

Only applicants awaiting outcomes of appeals and waivers covered until 31 March 2026

Due to persistent processing backlogs of visa applications made from within South Africa, the Minister of Home Affairs has been issuing a sequence of directives over the last years, protecting applicants from negative consequences arising from their previous visas expiring while they awaited their application results. The directives allowed those with pending applications, and who no longer had valid visas in their passports, to leave the country without being declared undesirable.

The latest of these directives, Directive No 22 of 2025 (in a revised form) was published on 30 September 2025. However, diverging from previous practice, the directive only covers very specific cases. Only applicants awaiting waivers or appeal outcomes (having applied on or before 30 September 2025) are protected, because the Department of Home Affairs has acknowledged that a backlog persists in those two areas. This group of applicants may continue with their activities as per their last visas, and leave the country and return without any penalties or bans, until 31 March 2026.

In line with the Minister’s claims that the visa backlog has been eradicated, applicants awaiting an outcome to any visa applications are no longer protected. This omission poses serious challenges for many. Industry feedback confirms that outcomes are outstanding for visa applications from as far back as 2022. Even newer applications regularly take 3-6 months and longer to be processed. Although the Department now imposes a strict 60-day rule for local applications (see our article on this topic), it fails to do its part by completing applications within that same timeframe. These applicants who have complied with all applicable rules and policies are left exposed: no longer able to leave the country without receiving a travel ban, and not allowed to continue working, studying, or conducting their businesses.

IN SHORT: All those whose visas have expired while waiting for an outcome on their in-country applications, are advised to stay in South Africa. If they leave before their new visa has been granted, they should expect to receive a travel ban of 1/5 year(s).   

Exemptions for Zimbabwean and Lesotho citizens extended by 18 months

Zimbabwe Exemption Permits (ZEP) and Lesotho Special Permits (LSP), issued to Zimbabwean and Lesotho nationals living in South Africa through special concessions first made in 2009 and 2015, respectively, have since been extended through various means. The latest extensions were due to expire in November, and ZEP and LSP holders had been incentivized through a special waiver to change their statuses to ordinary visas. Some who followed this advice have received their work or other visas, but the majority remained in limbo.

After consultation with his newly appointed Immigration Advisory Board (the statutory body IMCOSA’s Director served on for seven years), the Minister issued directives No 20 and 21 of 2025, allowing holders of ZEP or LSP permits to continue living, working, conducting their businesses, studying, and traveling out of and back into the country under the same conditions as before for another 18 months, expiring on 28 May 2027.

This move provides temporary relief to thousands of affected permit holders whose fate had been uncertain, and to their employers and families. The directives are not expected to impact on any pending applications for waivers and ordinary visas. A longer-term solution for SADC country citizens in South Africa is envisaged in the Minister’s latest White Paper (see our article on this topic).

Citizenship Reinstatement Portal Opened for South Africans who hold another citizenship

In a landmark decision, the Constitutional Court has unanimously confirmed that section 6(1)(a) of the South African Citizenship Act is unconstitutional and invalid from its promulgation in 1995. This provision had automatically stripped South Africans of their citizenship if they voluntarily acquired another nationality, unless they had secured prior permission from the Minister of Home Affairs. The Court declared that all those who lost their citizenship under this provision (i.e. after 6 October 1995) are now deemed never to have lost it, restoring the rights and status of countless South Africans who had found themselves unexpectedly disenfranchised. This judgment aligns with international trends supporting dual citizenship and recognises the realities of a globalised world.

In late November, Home Affairs launched its Citizenship Reinstatement Portal, a digital platform that uses digital authentication and biometric verification. (Former) citizens can verify their citizenship status and, if necessary, have it reinstated (go to https://myhomeaffairsonline.dha.gov.za/). If the citizenship was never revoked, confirmation is issued instantly. If it was revoked, the necessary steps to reinstatement can be taken immediately. Those who voluntarily renounced their South African citizenship are excluded from this process.

Current Processing Times and Trends

After a period of improvements regarding processing times overall, the current trend is that of slowing down, and major inconsistencies remain. The following averages and estimates are 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: 8-12 months; all other categories: 2-3 years and longer
• Temporary Visa Applications: Tourist visa extensions: 1-3 months; critical skills visas: 1-2 months; business visas: 4 months; study visas: 1-3 months; other categories: 2-6 months
• Overseas Visa Applications: 2-16 weeks, depending on category and consular location
• Appeals: Temporary residence: 8-12 months and longer; permanent residence: 12 months and longer
• Citizenship: Select processes: 6-12 months and longer, naturalization: 4 years

Although applications supported by IMCOSA enjoy a high success rate, the recent increase in unjustified rejections (after a phase of improvement) that has been felt throughout the industry has not entirely passed us by. Most rejections are based on the unannounced 60-day rule (see above) but also again on a variety of capricious decisions. Our advice is constantly adapted to the latest trends and transparent on any risks, which keeps rejections at a minimum.

For questions regarding active or planned applications, please contact us directly.