What to do if you’ve overstayed your visa and get banned from entering South Africa?

It sometimes happens, due to unforeseen circumstances, that people are unable to extend their visas before they exit South Africa. Section 32 of the Immigration Act provides for the legalization of an overstay on good cause. In such cases, the South African authorities will mark the foreign national as an overstayer and a ban will be put against such a foreigner, preventing him/her from returning to South Africa for a specific period. When you receive your undesirability notice, you will have ten working days to submit an appeal, electronically, to the immigration department, which should set out the reasons for your overstay.

What to do if your short-stay travel visa gets denied?

If your visa is denied for the United Kingdom, we can lodge a UK Visa Appeal to the First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) or request the Home Office for an administrative review. You have 28 days in which to appeal.

If your Canadian visa application gets refused, you cannot appeal this decision but you can submit an Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) request to the Government of Canada to get the physical file which will give you insight into what evidence, or lack thereof, influenced the officer.

What to do if there’s one requirement that keeps you from making progress with your application?

Applying for a waiver is a formal request to overlook any requirement for an application from the Department of Home Affairs which will exempt you from certain requirements – such as needing to leave the country to apply for a visa or having a certain level of education verified by SAQA. We prepare professional and well-formulated waiver or exemption requests and submit them to the waiver section of the Department of Home Affairs. Once approved by the DHA, you can proceed with your application.

What to do if your work or residence visa application is rejected?

In terms of sections 8(4 and 6) of the Immigration Act, an applicant can apply to appeal a rejection of their application. The first rejection is re-determined by the Director General of Home Affairs and if rejected again, the application is reconsidered by the Minister of Home Affairs. A final rejection will require you to apply to the High Court to review the decision and have it overturned.

What to do if you want to retain your South African nationality when you apply for another citizenship?

You must apply for the Retention of your SA citizenship before acquiring another citizenship. This applies to people who obtain a second nationality through naturalization (a formal application). If you fail to do so, you will automatically lose your South African citizenship. Citizens who acquire another nationality via descent will not automatically lose their South African citizenship. The process to retain your South African nationality has two stages. The first involves applying for a Certificate of Non-Acquisition from the relevant government authority and the second stage involves applying for your Certificate of Retention from the relevant SA authorities.