Appeals & Waivers
Discover your options when the Department of Home Affairs has incorrectly rejected your application or should you not be able to provide a prescribed requirement or document and may request to waive it in the form of a Waiver application.
Appeal Applications
When the Department of Home Affairs rejects a visa or permit application, a foreign national has the opportunity to appeal the decision in terms of Section 8(4) and Section 8(6) of the Immigration Act.
An appeal application is initially submitted to the Department of Home Affairs in terms of Section 8(4) of the Act which gets reviewed by the Director-General (DG), however should the DG decide to uphold the decision, a subsequent appeal application in terms of Section 8(6) of the Immigration Act, which then gets reviewed by the Minister of the Department of Home Affairs.
Appeal applications must be submitted within 10 working days from the date of receipt of the rejection notice, and the processing time by the Department of Home Affairs can be anything between 2 – 12 months, and in some cases longer.
Waiver Applications
Where a foreign applicant is unable to comply with a prescribed requirement as set out in the Immigration Regulations, s/he is afforded an opportunity to submit a Waiver application requesting the Department to waive the said requirement.
Examples of these applications often include the request for permission to change status from within South Africa or the request to waive qualifications pursuant to a work visa, where applicable. However, you may request to waive any document/requirement set out by the Act subject to demonstratable motivation.
Should the Department of Home Affairs consider the waiver request, a letter will be issued to that effect, and which has a validity period of twelve (12) months. The processing time by the Department of Home Affairs for waivers can currently take up to twelve (12) months.
