During your stay in Cape Town, South Africa, you may wish to extend your visa in order to remain in the country longer than you had planned. This is by no means an uncommon occurrence due to all the many attractions that the country has to offer. Fortunately, the process is fairly straightforward, and Medical Tourism SA is available to help.
Typically, most visitors to South Africa are issued with a standard tourist visa upon arrival. This visa usually allows visitors to remain in the country for a maximum of ninety days. In order to apply for a tourist visa extension, applicants need to ensure that they initiate the process at least sixty days before the current visa expires. Applications for extension made with less than sixty days’ warning are rarely successful.
Under the current system, tourist visa extensions can only be applied for once, and if successful, give you a maximum length of stay in the country, following which you will be required to leave without the possibility of extending your visa further. Should you wish to stay in the country for longer periods of time, various other visa types may be more applicable to you.
While the extension of tourist visas is generally unproblematic, not everyone is automatically entitled to one. It is important to remember that Home Affairs can either approve or turn down any application. Fulfilling all the necessary conditions (such as providing a written reason for your desire to stay in the country for longer periods) and ensuring that all the correct forms are filled out in full can help you to avoid complications in this process.
Medical Tourism SA understands that having to deal with all the hassle of getting a visa extension can take a lot of time and enjoyment out of your visit to South Africa. As a result, we offer all our clients assistance with this process from start to finish. This allows you to focus on enjoying your medical holiday and leave the administration in our capable hands.