APPLYING FOR A TOURIST VISA EXTENSION

If you find yourself in the position where you applying for an tourist visa extension, here’s how the process works :

  • You can apply for an extension of the tourist visa for the same amount of time that the tourist visa was given (eg. if you were given a 90 days visa, you can apply for another 90 days)

  • A change of the status of a visa cannot be done (eg. you cannot change the status of your visa from a Tourist Visa to a long term visa in country. You will need to fly back to your country of origin for a long term visa known as a Temporary Residence Visa)

  • Your Tourist Visa Extension applications need to be submitted within 30 days of arriving in South Africa

  • You cannot legally leave South Africa while your application is pending - this will likely result in you being blacklisted from South Africa for at least a few years



If you are applying for this extension outside of South Africa, email visa@ywammuizenberg.org and we can make a plan

APPLYING IN SOUTH AFRICA

STEP one - MAKE YOUR APPOINTMENT

Follow this Guide to Making your Appointment — you are applying for a ““Temporary Residence Visa - Visitors Visa Section 11(1)”

Make sure to print the various documents you’ll need for your application including:

  • Appointment Letter — You should get this to your email, it’s password-protected with your login password from when you made your appointment.

  • Application Form — From Step 9 in the guide above, in the table you’ll see on your screen, click the “Print” link.

  • Proof of Payment — This will be for R1775, you’ll receive an email receipt if you pay with a credit card.

Optional Tips:

  • Premium Lounge — for an additional R500 per application, you can pay to process your application through the Premium Lounge, for many of the applicants this makes the process on the day go much smoother as your application takes priority, you’ll get better service and private waiting area- so this is often ideal for families. You can apply online for this additional service

  • SMS Notifications — for an additional R20 per application, available for local SMS only, we also advise you to sign up for SMS notifications about the tracking of your application

STEP two - GATHER PAPERWORK

Note - it shouldn’t take too long to gather your documents, so its very possible to make your appointment prior to having all your paperwork finalized. First read over the checklist - then consult the tips below.

Here are some tips about the various paperwork required:

  • Proof of Financial Means —

    They want to see that can can pay for your living expenses while in South Africa in the form of bank statements, salary advances, undertakings by the host(s) in South Africa, bursary, medical cover or cash available (including credit cards and travelers’ cheques). There are a couple of methods or items to include to prove your financial means:

    • They just want to see the totals. You don’t need to print all the transactions.

    • Take your bank statements from your bank accounts from the last three months (your local South African Bank account if you have one and your international bank account), copy them on to a Word doc (or similar app), black out account numbers (to protect your information), and print them as a PDF.

    • You can also ask your bank to write a letter of recommendation (Here’s an Example)

    They are typically looking for at least R5000 per month. If you are in a tight financial position, here are some ways to do this :

    • Ask other people to loan you money to add to your account for the sake of proof, as soon as you paper work was accepted, transferred the money back to those people. Have them do this in different amounts on different days, so that when you print your statements there is not just one big amount that comes in (as this could be a red flag for them)

    • Have one or some people that can be a ‘garant’ for you— so they show that they have proof of sufficient financial means and a letter that states that they support you financially for the total amount of living costs here or something like that. Often people ask family members, friends or their church

  • Letter of Invitation / Proof of Accommodation from Our Visa Team —

    • This is a letter from YWAM for proof of accommodation and attending any activity or event within YWAM. This information in below

    • We send the Invitation Letter no sooner than two weeks prior to your visa appointment (as there are additional identification documents we send along that often have to be re-certified so it doesn’t make sense to send them any earlier). This means that its best to just make your VFS appointment first, and then contact us to request this letter, more information is below on step three.

  • Personal Letter to Request Extension —

  • [If Applicable] Letter of Apology for Not Submitting Within 30 Days of Arrival

    • Here’s an example:

      • I apologize for the delay in submitting our application to renew our Visitors Permit, which we should have submitted before ..(DATE).., in other words within 30 days of my arrival in South Africa on ..(DATE).. During the time I should have extended my permit, I was doing a road trip across the country and by the time I returned to Cape Town, the 30 days had passed. I sincerely apologize for our transgression and request you please be understanding of my situation.

  • Return Flight Ticket —

    • The date should be within the extra 90 days you’re applying for.

    • If you don’t have one yet, buy a ticket on Expedia, save the ticket, then cancel it within 24 hours for a full refund. Visatraveler.com has complete instructions. Or email to visa@ywammuizenberg.org to ask for help with an itinerary.

  • Copy of Passport Bio Page — Ensure it doesn’t expire before the date you’re extending to.

STEP THREE - REQUEST LETTERs FROM OUR VISA TEAM

It will help with your application to include a letter from YWAM stating that we affirm the value of the extension of your visa. You may also need a Proof of Residence. For our long term committed staff members, we are happy to help with either.

You can send your request for these letters by emailing us this information (your answers should be whatever you have stated on your visa application so that everything syncs):

  • A copy of your passport

  • The start & end dates of the visa you are applying for (when your visa expires, plus the length of time you want the visa for)

  • Your residential address (this will be the South African address where you stay - most staff use the YWAM Base, 19 Alexander Road Muizenberg, as this is their most consistent South African address - you can request for Personnel to write you a “Proof of Residence” for the Base as needed)

STEP SIX - safely store your vfs receipt

When you go to VFS, you will get a receipt of your visit. You cannot loose this receipt. They request it when you pick up your visa outcome and will not accept any other proof of payment.

I would recommend not only storing this receipt in a very safe place, but also making a copy and then getting a certified copy made at the police station as a backup.

Step seven - track your application

Regularly check the status of your application on the VFS account that you created.

Expect to wait 8 to 10 weeks to get the final word on your visa extension application.

You should have signed up for email / SMS notifications - which unfortunately are not a guarantee that you will receive information in a timely manner.

If they take longer and you would technically be overstaying your visa - do not leave the country. While your application is in process you will be at risk of getting blacklisted from being able to return to South Africa if you leave.

If you’re facing delays or challenges, send a direct message on Twitter or Instagram to the Minister of Foreign Affairs. They’ll respond with an email address of someone who can help you with an update.

To understand what the various stages of tracking mean - refer to the FAQ tab to the left - but basically, when you see “Forwarded to the Pretoria OC”, you can make an appointment to collect your outcome. We suggest you make it for at three days after you see this notification as that is typically when it will arrive by. Or you can wait until you see “Received at VFC” as that is when it is confirmed it will be at VFS, and then you could make an appointment for as soon as possible.

STEP FOUR - PREPARE YOUR PAPERWORK

Make photos copies of everything you turn in, because you just never know what you’ll need to be prepared for (for example, we recently had a staff members paperwork in transit get hijacked), plus it helps you remember the whole process if applying again in 3 years.

Copies have to be legible and pictures on passport copies crisp and not too dark.

Any document (e.g. medical report) that you can have someone put an “official stamp” on is good, especially if it is a photo-copy. You can also get everything certified by stopping by a local post office or police station - this is a free service, you just need to bring the original with you.

Pro tip: have a separate folder for each member of your family so you can turn in everything in easily.

Optional: if you would like our Visa Team to meet with and review your documents before you submit them to double check for any possible errors, email our Visa Team and we can find a time to meet with you


STEP FIVE - PREPARE FOR YOUR VFS APPOINTMENT

On the day of your appointment plan to arrive 15 minutes early at the Visa Facilitation Centre. Bring all your documents, and have a copy of your appointment letter and passport on hand.

Address of VSF: 7th Floor, 2 Long Street, 2 on Long Building, Cape Town 8001

We've put together the map below for the easiest route to get to VFS and find parking.

Count on it to take just over an hour in total to go through the three steps of the appointment:

  1. Quality control: An agent checks your documents are in order

  2. Submission: Another agent officially submits your visitor permit extension application (this is also where you can pay the remains service fees, if you haven’t done that)

  3. Biometrics: They take your photo and fingerprints

When you arrive at the Visa Facilitation Centre you will collect a token. Wait until your token is called to make your application. Once the visa application process is completed you will be issued with an acknowledgment receipt. Keep your receipt safe as you will need this later to collect your documents - it is very bad if you loose it as the decision will be handed over on submitting this receipt.

STEP eight - OUTCOME RECEIVED!

The emails you get don’t tell you whether your application was accepted or not, so the journey to the VFS office to get the verdict is a nervous one. It helps to make an early appointment.

First, double check what you have received. There are often errors in dates or names, which you would rather get corrected in person rather than be held back at the border when you next travel.

If need be, you can apply for a an appeal.

Step nine - update our community about your next steps

Next update our Visa Team about the outcome of your application so we can update your information and be prepared to comply with government regulations.