Many cruisers wish to extend their 90-day stay in South Africa. Unfortunately, the visa extension process is often long-winded and unsatisfactory in terms of the time taken for approval.

 

The visa extension process is handled by an agency VFS and the process is as follows:

1. Visit the VFS website www.vfsglobal.com/dha/southafrica

2. Identify the visa type, start the application, pay the fees and then book an appointment at an application centre to personally submit the application. The process is as follows:

​              Visitors Visa Section 11(1) is the port of entry

              Application Type: Temporary Residence Visa

              Sub-type: TRV - Renewal

             Category: Visitor Visa Section 11(1)

             Ignore Corporate visa

Note that the coastal application centres are in Durban, Port Elizabeth, George and Cape Town and that once the extension is approved you have to visit the same application centre to receive your visa, or give authorisation to someone else to collect this on your behalf.

​

An alternative to applying for a visa extension is to leave the country a few days before your visa expires and to return well AFTER ITS EXPIRY. A further visa should then be given on re-entry. This is normally the case but is not guaranteed. There do not seem to be any hard-and-fast rules on this and it is up to the individual immigration officer at the port of entry with sometimes random decisions. Please note, if you have more than a week left on your visa, you may only get that number of days on your return.

 

If you make a road trip to Botswana or Namibia there shouldn’t be a problem on re-entry. If you return by air to your home country there is not normally a problem.

 

OSASA update 05 Aug 2024