Applying in South Africa

STEP ONE - 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

APPLYING FOR A VISA RENEWAL AS A FAMILY

Your Visa Renewal applications need to be submitted in person, no less than 60 days prior to the expiry date of your Visas.

If any of your children are dependents over the age of seven, they will need to apply for a Student Visa.

You will need to contact the school the child is or will be attending to sort it out with them directly. It helps to have this information included in the visa letter for the parents, so please confirm this process with their school as soon as you can.

There is a tab to the left with further information about this process (under “Applying for Dependent Child’s Student Visa).

For those of you applying for a renewal outside of South Africa - this is the same as applying for your first visa, to refer to that tab on the left

Here are some tips about the various paperwork required:

  • Medical & Radiological Reports —

    These reports will only remain valid for six months, so it is always best to complete this process closer to the time of submission. Make sure you get an official stamp by the doctors office.

  • 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 R3000 per month for the child for the period of the visa (in addition to R6000 per month, per parent). 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 from Our Visa Team —

    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

  • Passport Photos —

    Download this app to take the photo for free and print at a local print shop

  • South African Police Clearances —

    Are done at VSF, so no need to get this done prior to your appointment. (the cost is R175 per person)

  • Cover Letter —

    Unfortunately Home Affairs doesn’t always use common sense in making the connection that you have applied together as a family since they adjudicate each application individually. Therefore, to make your application as a family as clear as possible - include a cover letter for each application and include a copy of your the receipt and appointment letter from VFS.

    We’ve put together sample templates for you to use, which you can find by clicking here

    We will also include in our wording of the letter of invitation similar details to hopefully avoid any issues.

Step two - make your appointment

Click here to Apply for Renewal Online - make sure to print a copy of your appointment confirmation

Follow this Guide to Making your Appointment — you are applying for a “Temporary Residence Visa Exceeding 90 Days 11(1)(b)(II) Renewal, for any children accompanying you, they will be for a 90 Days 11(1)(b)(IV) Renewal”

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 three - request a visa letter from our visa team

You can send your request for a Visa letter 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

  • A statement of what ministry you are a part of and your role (what does an average day look like for you?)

  • The start & end dates of the visa you are applying for (day you hope you arrive in South Africa, 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 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.

Email Personnel to request a “Proof of Residence” if the residential address you listed on your visa application is the YWAM Base.

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 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.

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

While waiting for the outcome of your visa, only travel internationally if you have a valid visa to re-enter. If traveling while waiting for results it is also wise to have someone authorized to collect the results in case they come in while you are away. Information for having an authorized representative is here.

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 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.