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How immigration will be affected during South Africa’s lockdown

On March 25, 2020 / by Andrew Wicks / Leave a comment

The coronavirus pandemic has affected everyone on a global scale. Schools, universities, businesses and all other entities are faced with the same crisis, one that is unprecedented to say the least. Our duty as global citizens is to do our part in an effort to flatten the curve.

All of South Africa has been called upon by our President, to unite in the fight against the coronavirus outbreak. Due to his swift and decisive decision making, South Africa will be on a nationwide lockdown for 21 days. This will start at midnight on the 26th of March and end at midnight on the 16th of April 2020.

The VFS Global offices in South Africa will be closing. Submissions and collections will not be possible during this time. South African embassies and VFS Global offices abroad are likely to also close. These closures will likely delay processing of applications already submitted to the Department of Home Affairs. This may cause a significant delay in the issuing of visa and permit outcomes, as well as other immigration needs.

The coming weeks will no doubt be extremely difficult for many of us. As a nation we can only hope that the measures taken will protect our communities from further spread of the coronavirus.

If you need any assistance or clarity regarding immigration, please feel free to get in touch with one of our immigration consultants.

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Andrew Wicks

Andrew Wicks

Over the past 11 years, Andrew’s entrepreneurial spirit, as well as his business acumen, has led to the establishment of small to medium enterprises worldwide. Promising opportunities in the fields of IT, mobile distribution and advertising (amongst others) have been converted into successful business units in a variety of global markets. Andrew returned to South Africa after seven years in Europe to found Initiate International. He remains totally hands-on and has expanded the company across three continents.

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