When I arrived in Cape Town International Airport from Kenya, a Customs officer told me that I had only 7 days to legally be in South Africa. This was actually my second entry into South Africa during the year, and I had unwittingly started a 90-day timer on my Visitor’s Visa when I arrived 83 days prior and spent four weeks in the country. After my first visit in 2021, I went on a tour of Ethiopia, Rwanda, and Kenya, so I was expecting to be able to return to South Africa with a new 90-day visa based on this statement from the U.S. Department of State’ South African travel website:
Alas, I had been too optimistic about the definition of a “visit.” Life would have been a lot simpler if I had read this on the South African government’s website:
Anyhow, I was given two options at Customs:
- risk being banned from South Africa by remaining in South Africa while applying to extend my Visitor’s Visa through the Department of Home Affairs
- leave South Africa within 7 days, and wait a year
I had to figure out a game plan, fast. I couldn’t just go home, since I had to attend a funeral and a wedding in Cape Town in just a few weeks. Luckily, I found out you can stay in South Africa for more than 90 days out of the year if you pursue a third option that Customs did not mention: the Loophole.
Extending Your Visitor’s Visa#
If you want to go by the book, you can try to extend your Visitor’s Visa, but it’s going to be a bumpy ride. If you are American (or a resident of any other country found on this Visa Exemption List), extending your Visitor’s Visa is arguably the most “official” way to remain in South Africa, but I trust this option the least. If you want to know the option that I chose, make sure to read on to “The Loophole” section.
Department of Home Affairs#
Before I realized that the Department of Home Affairs would do nothing for me, I went to their office in downtown Cape Town. The Cape Town Department of Home Affairs office makes the dreaded American DMV look efficient. People line up before 5 a.m. to wait for the office to open at 8 a.m. When I was waiting in line, fights broke out in the line between people who had jumped the line and people who had waited.
Me acting casual at the front of the line into the Department of Home Affairs (a spot in line that I had paid someone for), while fights about line jumping broke out behind me.
When I finally arrived inside of the Department of Home Affairs, several officers told me that the branch does not handle visas whatsoever. If I wanted to extend my Visitor’s Visa, I would have to go to the office of VFS Global.
VFS Global#
The Department of Home Affairs branch has outsourced their visa administration to VFS Global. Even this Department of Home Affairs website says to go to VFS Global.
You are technically supposed to submit an application for an extension of your Visitor’s Visa at least 60 days before its expiration (source); however, there are official service providers, including VFS Global, that have state-sanctioned ways to circumvent this rule.
They’ll instruct you to assemble a set of forms constituting an “application” for a visa renewal which will be sent off to the Department of Home Affairs in Pretoria. If you are in Cape Town, your only option is to submit this application to VFS Global; do NOT go to the Department of Home Affairs office.
In my case, I spent two days at VFS Global because their web portal was unstable due to load shedding, but with only a couple of days left on my visa and no guarantee that my application would be approved, I did not want to risk being banned for overstaying my permitted time in South Africa. Instead of following through with the application, I pursued the Loophole.
The Loophole#
In order to stay in South Africa on a Visitor’s Visa without applying for a visa extension, follow the Loophole. The Loophole is actually two ways that allow you to leave South Africa and come back during the same year. I tried one way, and it worked! I have not tried the other way, so I cannot vouch for it with personal experience; however both of these methods were explicitly outlined to me and confirmed by multiple VFS Global and Department of Home Affairs officers in Cape Town and Johannesburg:
Leave South Africa During Your First 90 Days and Come Back After Your First 90 Days#
This option is apparently very common for people who try to stay in South Africa with Visitor’s Visas because it is much, much easier. You just need to leave South Africa before your initial 90 days has lapsed and return after your initial visa has expired. This means you can fly to Kenya, Dubai, Norway, etc. and allow your visa to expire, then return! One Department of Home Affairs officer told me not to try to re-enter South Africa from a bordering country, because South Africa is starting to crack down on “border hopping.”
I received a second visa by going back to America for a week, then returning to South Africa a few days after my first visa had lapsed. I believe I could have come back during the initial 90 days and had the same result, which would have fallen into the following category.
Leave South Africa and Come Back During Your First 90 Days#
If you do not have an extension, you must leave South Africa before your Visitor’s Visa expires. If you go back to a country where you are a Resident (or higher status, e.g. citizenship), you can return to South Africa before your initial 90 days has lapsed and receive a fresh 90 days and a new Visitor’s Visa. This method was explained to me by two Customs officers upon entry to South Africa and verified by a VFS Global agent.
Conclusions#
Waste#
I won’t answer whether the Loophole should or should not exist in general. I used it to continue contributing to the South African tourism industry while spending valuable time with family. The Loophole was godsend for those reasons, but it has a darkside. Through the Loophole, I wastefully spewed out tons of plane emissions, spent thousands of dollars, and spent dozens of hours that, at the end of the day, I could have saved by just staying in South Africa instead of flying to America for a week.
Room to Improve#
The magnitude of the rigamarole I encountered during the whole experience reinforced my belief that the South African Department of Home Affairs desperately needs new tech solutions, more transparency and accountability, and fewer chokepoints. They should strive to be more like Estonia, which has embraced entirely remote applications for Digital Nomad Visas.
VFS Global, which has absorbed so much of the Department of Home Affair’s charter, is infuriatingly disorganized, slow, and outdated. Still, the desperation that pervades the sterile VFS Global office, where South Africans and VFS Global employees are trying their best to tend to everyone’s needs, showed me a unique and somewhat beautiful glimpse of humanity.
Why#
I spent hours on the Department of Home Affairs’ website and reading through South African immigration and visa laws, and there is nothing online that explains how to extend your time in South Africa on a Visitor’s Visa. While there are other independent websites that “fill in the gaps” for this information, you cannot validate this information on an official government website or in legislative text. This inspired me to share my experience, which I hope helps you.
Disclaimer#
This article is not legal advice. I followed the advice of officers in the Department of Home Affairs and VFS Global. This article is purely to share my personal experience with nebulous South African immigration policies.
