“How long will my visa take?” is the question every applicant asks first – and for years, there has been no official answer.
That has now changed. Immigration Circular No. 08 of 2026, signed by the Director-General of Home Affairs, publishes turnaround times for visa and permit-related services for the 2026/27 performance cycle. According to the Circular, it supersedes all previously published turnaround times and applies to applications submitted within South Africa.
In this article, we set out the full list of published times, translate them into practical calendar terms, and share the analysis of our Managing Director, Andreas Krensel – including where the targets are reasonable, where they are too long, and the one question the Circular leaves unanswered.
Why This Publication Matters
For years, one of our consistent criticisms of the Department of Home Affairs has been the absence of published standard operating procedures and interpretation guidelines. Compare this to the United Kingdom, where processing standards and guidance are available online – and where publication can bind the administration to a more consistent adjudication approach.
Seen in that light, Circular No. 08 of 2026 is a genuine step towards transparency in adjudication. Publication matters not only because it informs the public, but because published standards create a benchmark against which the Department’s own performance can be measured.
The Circular itself states that its purpose is to enhance transparency, build public trust, reduce inquiries, mitigate fraud risks, and support stakeholder expectations. Publishing targets creates a public benchmark that applicants – and their advisors – can hold the Department to.
Working Days, Not Calendar Days
Before looking at the tables we have provided, one detail changes everything: where the Circular expresses a period in days, those are working days, not calendar days. Weekends and South African public holidays are excluded, and the South African calendar is the sole calendar used.
As a practical planning guide:
- 60 working days is roughly 3 calendar months
- 120 working days is roughly 6 calendar months
- 180 working days is roughly 9 calendar months
- 240 working days is close to a full calendar year
These conversions are approximate, but they are important. A timeline that appears short on paper can feel very different once weekends and public holidays are excluded.
The times also apply only to applications duly submitted within South Africa. Applications lodged at foreign missions are not covered by this Circular.
The Published Turnaround Times in Full
The Circular lists the following turnaround times for visa, permit, appeal, waiver and administrative services.
Priority Categories: Annual Performance Plan
| Category | Published time | In calendar terms |
| Business Visa: Section 15 | 8 weeks | ~2 months |
| Critical Skills Visa: Section 19(4), including TES | 4 weeks | ~1 month |
| General Work Visa: Section 19(2), including TES | 4 weeks | ~1 month |
| Port of Entry Visa: Section 10, TTOS | 5 days | ~1 week |
| Port of Entry Visa: Section 10, E-Visa | 10 days | ~2 weeks |
| Permanent residence: Worker, Section 26(a) | 8 months | 8 months |
| Permanent residence: Extraordinary Skills, Section 27(b) | 8 months | 8 months |
| Permanent residence: Business, Section 27(c) | 8 months | 8 months |
Temporary Residence Visas: Annual Operational Plan
| Category | Published time | In calendar terms |
| Visitor’s Visa: Section 11(1) | 60 working days | ~3 months |
| Visitor’s Visa: Section 11(2), short-term work | 60 working days | ~3 months |
| Exchange Visa: Section 22 | 60 working days | ~3 months |
| Study Visa: Section 13 | 60 working days | ~3 months |
| Medical Treatment Visa: Section 17 | 60 working days | ~3 months |
| Crew Visa: Section 17 | 60 working days | ~3 months |
| Visitor’s Visa: Section 11(6), spousal, including work/business endorsement | 120 working days | ~6 months |
| Relative’s Visa: Section 18 | 120 working days | ~6 months |
| Retired Person Visa: Section 20 | 120 working days | ~6 months |
| Treaty Visa: Section 14 | 120 working days | ~6 months |
Permanent Residence Permits: Annual Operational Plan
| Category | Published time | In calendar terms |
| Spouse and dependants: Section 26(b), (c), (d) | 240 working days | ~11 to 12 months |
| Extraordinary Skills, spouse and dependants: Section 27(b) | 240 working days | ~11 to 12 months |
| Business, spouse and dependants: Section 27(c) | 240 working days | ~11 to 12 months |
| Quota worker: Section 27(a) | 240 working days | ~11 to 12 months |
| Refugee: Section 27(d) | 240 working days | ~11 to 12 months |
| Retired: Section 27(e) | 240 working days | ~11 to 12 months |
| Financially Independent: Section 27(f) | 240 working days | ~11 to 12 months |
| Relative: Section 27(g) | 240 working days | ~11 to 12 months |
Appeals, Waivers And Administrative Services
| Category | Published time | In calendar terms |
| Appeal: Section 8(4), to the Director-General | 180 working days | ~9 months |
| Appeal: Section 8(6), to the Minister | 240 working days | ~11 to 12 months |
| Visa waivers/exemptions | 120 working days | ~6 months |
| Permit waivers/exemptions | 240 working days | ~11 to 12 months |
| Rectification of visas and permits | 30 working days | ~6 weeks |
| Visa transfer | 30 working days | ~6 weeks |
| Visa verification | 40 working days | ~2 months |
| Permit verification | 90 working days | ~4.5 months |
| Proof of permit | 90 working days | ~4.5 months |
| Withdrawal of permit | 90 working days | ~4.5 months |
| Cancellation of visa | 90 working days | ~4.5 months |
Our Assessment
Where the targets are reasonable
The Circular’s headline work-visa commitments are competitive. Critical Skills and General Work visas are listed at 4 weeks, while Business Visas are listed at 8 weeks.
This signals a clear prioritisation of the skills and investment pipeline. If these timelines are met in practice, they would represent a significant improvement for applicants, employers and investors who need greater predictability.
On the permanent residence side, roughly 12 months for most categories is acceptable for most foreign nationals, provided the Department does adjudicate in the promised timeframe.
Where they are too long
The section 11(6) spousal visa – whether with a work or business endorsement – is listed at 120 working days. In practical calendar terms, that is approximately six months.
For a spouse or life partner category, that is simply too long; delays in these applications create real uncertainty around family life, work, business activity and long-term planning.
Where we are genuinely concerned
The most concerning timelines are those for appeals and waivers. An appeal to the Director-General is set at 180 working days. An appeal to the Minister is set at 240 working days – close to a full calendar year.
Excessive appeal timelines weaken the usefulness of the appeal remedy itself. If an applicant has to wait close to a year for an appeal to be adjudicated, the appeal route becomes far less effective as a practical legal remedy. This is especially concerning because poor first-instance decisions generate a high volume of appeals. Where that happens, the appeal system must be quick enough to function as a real remedy. If it is too slow, applicants are left with a legal remedy on paper, but not always a meaningful remedy in practice.
Waiver timelines raise the same concern. Visa waivers and exemptions are listed at 120 working days, while permit waivers and exemptions are listed at 240 working days. These timelines are lengthy, particularly where the waiver is needed before the applicant can move forward with the main application.
We must be fair on the underlying cause: the Department is underfunded and understaffed, and that explains (though it does not justify) these timelines. Something in this process of adjudication needs to change.
What If the Department Misses Its Own Targets?
Publishing turnaround times is one thing, meeting them is another, and the Circular says nothing about what happens when a published time is exceeded. The practical question is simple: if a section 11(6) visa is meant to take six months, but the applicant still waits a year, what then?
In principle, an applicant could approach a court and argue that the Department must be held to the standards it has publicly committed to. But litigation is costly and slow, which is precisely the problem the published times were meant to ease.
Other jurisdictions have considered stronger enforcement mechanisms. Nigeria once floated the idea that a visa application exceeding the standard processing time could be deemed to be granted. South Africa’s Department of Home Affairs has not gone that far, but the example shows how other jurisdictions have thought about enforcement.
For now, the published times are a benchmark, not a guarantee.
Planning an Application Against These Timelines?
From a practical advisory perspective, applicants should plan against these timelines in calendar terms, not just working days. They should also build in a buffer, especially where a waiver, appeal or family-related application is involved.
Most importantly, applicants should keep their temporary residence status valid at all times while any long-running application, appeal or waiver is pending.
Written by Andreas Krensel, Senior Director of Africa and Europe
