In April 2022 the Department of Home Affairs issued a Directive that attempted to address the impact that the present backlog in the processing of waiver and visa applications was causing. In terms of this Directive the following concessions were provided:

Applicants whose wavier applications are still pending: Applicants were provided with a blanket temporary extension until the 30^th June 2022 in order to allow the Department to process the applications and for the applicants to thereafter collect their outcomes and submit the appropriate visas. Applicants that wished to exit South Africa could also do so before or on the 30^th June 2022 without being declared undesirable.

Applicants whose visa applications are still pending: Applicants who were still waiting for a visa application to be processed were granted blanked temporary extension of their current visa status until the 30^th June 2022. Those who wished to abandon their visa applications could do so and leave South Africa by or on the 30^th June 2022 without being declared undesirable.

Applicants with pending long term visa applications that originated from countries that are visa exempt and that wished to travel could do so and simply present their VFS Receipt on arrival back in South Africa for admission purposes. However, applicants from countries that are not visa exempt were required to present both a port of entry visa as well as their VFS Receipt to be readmitted to South Africa.

The above concessions have now been extended until the 30^th September 2022. There presently doesn’t appear to be any signs that the delays in the processing of visa applications is being addressed, and it is likely that the concessions will be extended beyond the 30^th September 2022.