The Visa Backlog Re-emerges: As Home Affairs Works to Fix the System, Litigation Is Still Part of the Answer

Senior officials described the milestone as nothing short of remarkable.

But less than two years on, overdue applications are accumulating again and by mid-July 2026 the backlog sat at around 40,000. Thousands of appeals and waiver applications remain outstanding. Applicants are once again asked to wait and are facing uncertainty about when their applications will be finalised.

This comes at a time when Home Affairs is making progress with its digital transformation agenda intended to fundamentally change how people interact with the Department, and as wider immigration reforms seek to replace inefficient bureaucracy with a more modern, risk-based system capable of attracting investment and critical skills.

Against that background, the renewed backlog raises an uncomfortable question of whether it was ever truly gone.

The Backlog is Back — And Appeals Are a Particular Concern

On 26 August 2026 DHA briefed Parliament’s Select Committee on Security and Justice, on visa processing, appeals, overdue-reduction interventions and digital transformation. This was shortly after Minister Leon Schreiber at the recent Xpatweb Global Mobility Conference acknowledged that overdue applications in certain categories had begun accumulating again, including appeals against rejected applications.

The Department identified sustained demand, the complexity of applications, fragmented processes, data-integration challenges and capacity constraints among the factors contributing to processing delays.

The Committee welcomed the progress made by Home Affairs in reducing visa-related backlogs but emphasised that clearing the backlog must be accompanied by reforms to prevent them from recurring.

The Committee’s concerns are supported by the numbers.

As of 28 July 2026, the DHA reported 21,847 pending appeals, of which 60% were already overdue. Those figures suggest that underlying visa-processing remains vulnerable.

The Concession Brings Relief, but Signals Continuing Pressure

The Department’s decision earlier in 2026 to extend its visa concession to 30 June 2027 provides another indication of the scale and persistence of the challenge.

The latest extension allows applicants with long-pending visa, waiver, and appeal applications to remain in South Africa until 30 June 2027 provided that they had submitted their applications prior to 30 March 2026.

For affected applicants and their employers, the extension provides considerably more certainty, although temporarily. Previous extensions, often granted in relatively short increments, created recurring periods of uncertainty as each deadline approached.

The extension is both a concerted and considered effort to protect affected applicants, as well as a recognition of the extent of the capacity challenges still facing the department. Extended well into 2027, the concession suggests that resolving outstanding waiver, long-term visa, and appeal applications will require sustained effort over time.

This Is Where Litigation Becomes Important

Attorneys at Visa Litigation Services say for applicants who have been waiting unreasonably long for a decision, litigation can provide a structured legal route to bring finality where matters are stuck within the administrative system.

“Undue delays by the Department of Home Affairs may be unlawful. Affected parties should seek assistance in asserting their rights through strategic visa litigation and administrative law remedies with urgent matters, cases in need of escalation or other complex matters.”

Visa Litigation Services notes a recent increase for this type of intervention. In some cases, legal pressure is an important consideration to accelerate delayed matters as it brings a specific case to the Department’s attention and compels it to make a decision.

Quality Concerns and Incorrect Refusals

In practice, Visa Litigation Services has seen a steady rise in applicants pursuing legal remedies since the start of 2026, largely due to what is viewed as poor adjudication by DHA.

Many applications that fully comply with regulatory requirements are nonetheless rejected, forcing applicants to take the legal route.

“Recent court outcomes demonstrate that correctly prepared, compliant applications consistently withstand judicial scrutiny,” says Visa Litigation Services. In several instances, courts have overturned refusals and directly ordered DHA to issue visas or permits, underscoring systemic adjudication failures rather than applicant non-compliance.

Reform Cannot Leave Today’s Applicants Behind

South Africa’s immigration framework is undergoing significant reform, with digital transformation and broader policy initiatives intended to create a more efficient and modern immigration system.

But future digital transformation does not resolve today’s overdue application and the practical experience for applicants who are affected by die backlog, exposes a critical gap between policy intent and administrative execution.

An applicant who has been waiting for an extended period, cannot necessarily wait for the complete benefits of digital transformation to fully arrive.

Where ordinary administrative channels have failed, and where a delay has become unreasonable, litigation can provide an important mechanism to bring certainty and finality.

Progress is being made, but the system is not without hurdles yet. As Select Committee chairperson Jane Seboletswe Mananiso stated: “The ultimate test is whether these interventions result in predictable, fair and efficient turnaround times. We cannot continue responding to backlogs only after they have accumulated. The objective must be genuine end-to-end resolution, rather than simply moving applications from one queue to another.”