South Africa Visa: How to fix overstayed visa in South Africa?

While there are so many important considerations regarding your South African visa, overstaying is a much more highlighted issue among those. Overstaying visa had been very common among people traveling to South Africa and other countries in the world. But overstay in South Africa 2018 which was earlier considered to be a minor inconvenience, is now a much greater criminal offense.

Posing equally notable consequences, overstaying South African visas has turned out to be a serious affair after the amendments in the laws stated by the Immigration Act. Therefore, it is something that would require a very careful and smart approach to sway all the peculiarities that may prevail.

South Africa Visa Overstay Rules

As per the South Africa immigration law, any individual who overstays their South African visa would be declared undesirable by the (DHA) Director of Home Affairs based on various other grounds. As the result of an overstay, along with the declaration of undesirability, upon their departure from South Africa, there would be a ban on the overstayed individual for about 1 to 5 years. The declaration of desirability may be effective as per the following points:

  • With effect to your overstay for less than 30 days, you may be declared undesirable for a period of 12 months.
  • If an individual overstays for the second time within 24 months, he/she would be declared undesirable for 2 years.
  • Overstay of more than 30 days would result in the declaration of undesirability for 5 years.

Overstay fee in South Africa

There are cases when individuals do not have any pending applications with respect to overstays. However, they have overstayed their visas considering the fact that they would be paying off fines in order to avoid bans from the country.  This was however, something possible before the amendments in the immigration laws. The laws are now far stricter and are likely to bring forward more complex consequences along with the fines that would prevail.

Traveling with an overstayed South African Visa

There are often confusions when individuals having submitted their visa applications tend to return their home town before any finalization regarding this and get declared as undesirable upon departure. Earlier, there were no fines against foreigners visiting or leaving South Africa during such processes. However, now it may be important to consider the amendments that are made to ensure that things fall well in place.

The change in policies has taken away the chances from individuals who have overstayed to leave the country without proper actions or being penalized. It hasn’t been too long since this change  is publicized however, when it’s done now, it is important to look forward towards following the correct regulations with respect to the events forthcoming your overstays. Earlier, there had always been issues that considered delays from authorities and department of South Africa.

How to fix overstayed visa in South Africa?

You can submit an overstay visa appeal in South Africa, based on different scenarios. However, along with your appeals, you may be required to pay away a set fine, depending on the situation of your overstay. You would probably need to create a strong situation while you appeal, considering the personal situations of overstay and other important legal prospects. The major focus should be on getting the confidence of the authorities in South Africa that the person is not a threat to the country. Familial circumstances would also be considered by the authorities before really declaring an individual to be undesirable.

Well, when you’re seeking to submit an overstay appeal; know that it is done after the individual’s departure from South Africa and the person has been declared undesirable. There are however instances where you may “legalize” yourself to submit the appeal from within South Africa considering the fact that the person hasn’t yet overstayed the visa in South Africa. There are very limited circumstances that allow doing so, but then timely and responsible reaction against events would always help in bringing up some better returns and lower the burden of consequences that is likely to prevail.

You may consider the above-mentioned peculiarities with respect to the South Africa overstay explanation letter and other procedures that may prevail. These wills help to handle visa issues in the country.


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