SA visa rules change: Home Affairs removes 60-day requirement for applicants

• South Africa's Minister of Home Affairs officially waived the 60-day advance submission requirement for visa renewals and status changes
• The waiver applies retrospectively, meaning applicants who were rejected solely for missing the deadline can now appeal
• Immigration specialists say the decision will significantly reduce the Department of Home Affairs' administrative backlog

South Africa's Department of Home Affairs has scrapped one of the most contested requirements in its visa application process. The Minister of Home Affairs officially waived the rule that forced foreign nationals to submit visa renewal or status-change applications at least 60 days before their current visa expired.

Going forward, applicants can file submissions at any point up to and including the day their visa expires, without needing a separate waiver or facing a penalty for missing the old deadline.

What the new rule does and does not cover

According to reports, the change comes with an important boundary. Foreign nationals whose visas have already expired are not covered by the waiver. Applications must still be submitted on or before the expiry date for the new rules to apply.

Where the decision breaks new ground is in its retrospective reach. Visa rejections issued solely because an applicant missed the 60-day window will be overturned on appeal, allowing those original applications to be assessed on their merits. Dependent family members who were caught up in secondary rejections linked to a primary applicant's 60-day refusal will also benefit, with their cases now processed alongside the primary applicant's resubmission.

Relief for an overburdened department

Immigration specialists at Xpatweb say the move addresses a growing crisis inside the Department of Home Affairs. Over the past year, a sharp rise in visa rejections was recorded where the 60-day rule was cited as the only reason for refusal, with nothing else about the application found to be deficient.

That spike created a ripple effect. Applicants lodged appeals, filed waiver requests, and flooded the system with paperwork that officials then had to process individually. Under the new arrangement, adjudicators can review extension applications on first assessment without having to verify whether the submission met the 60-day threshold, removing an entire layer of administrative checking.

Overturning existing appeals that were built solely around the 60-day issue also eliminates thousands of standalone files from the department's queue, offering meaningful relief to a system that has long struggled with delays.

More on Home Affairs and foreign nationals

• Briefly News recently reported on Paul Mashatile backing the Home Affairs asylum directive pause, and South Africans reacted sharply to what he admitted about the court ruling.
• General Mkhwanazi revealed that SAPS is probing senior Home Affairs officials over foreign nationals entering SA, after unrest left several vehicles burnt.
• A content creator broke down the new Home Affairs asylum directive, and his take left South Africans stunned.

Source: Briefly News

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