In an announcement made on 2 September 2022, the Minister of the Department of Home Affairs Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, announced a last chance for a further 6-month grace period until 30 June 2023 to allow ZEP holders to regularize their status by applying for a mainstream visa category. They have warned that it will not be extended again.
The Zimbabwean special dispensation started in 2009 and was called the Dispensation for Zimbabwe Permit. It provided for the documentation of qualifying Zimbabweans for a five-year period. The permits were extended in 2014 for a further three-year period until 2017 and called the Zimbabwean Special Permit. The current Zimbabwean Exemption Permits were issued in 2017 and expired on 31 December 2021.
On 25 November 2021, the Cabinet has announced that no further concession will be allowed and as such ZEP holders will no longer be able to extend their permits in terms of this special dispensation. The Department of Home Affairs have granted a 12-month grace period from the current ZEP expiry to allow permit holders to apply for a visa in a different category to allow them to legally reside in the country.
In an announcement made on 2 September 2022, the Minister of the Department of Home Affairs Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, announced a last chance for a further 6-month grace period until 30 June 2023 to allow ZEP holders to regularize their status by applying for a mainstream visa category. They have warned that it will not be extended again. Details of this announcement was shared in various media sources.
For the first time since the announcement made in November 2021, the ZEP process has now been given Ministerial direction. Based on this experience, we are comfortable to support these applications now; as previously this was a space of too much uncertainty.
We presented on this topic with the Minister of Home Affairs and Marisa Jacobs on Radio 702. If you have missed the session, you can listen to it by clicking here.
Xpatweb is South Africa’s largest immigration practice and have in the past three years obtained over 2,000 work visas of the same special category announced by the Minister as suitable for ZEP holders. As a provider of specialist work visa services to some of South Africa’s largest corporates and families our team of Specialists we will be able to provide direction and clarification on the correct process to follow.
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