# Visa on expired passport



## su8898 (Apr 17, 2013)

Hi,

I am about to renew the passport which has my SA visa in it. I've read that DHA now considers visas in expired/cancelled passports to be invalid. Is this rule still in effect?
Will be great if someone can advise if I am going to have any issues if I travel with my new passport and show the visa in the old passport in September. The visa is valid for another 6+ months.

Thanks in advance.


----------



## Roisined (Jul 25, 2017)

“VALID” VISA IN AN EXPIRED PASSPORT
Immigration Regulation 2(3) states that “The period of validity of a passport contemplated in section 9(4)(a) of the Act shall not be less than 30 days after the foreigner's intended date of departure from the Republic”.
A temporary residence visa should not be issued for any validity period that exceeds the expiry date of a passport. A visa issued beyond the expiry date of a passport shall immediately lapse on the same date that the passport expires and will not be transferred to a new passport.
A visa issued with an expiry date beyond that of a passport is considered to have been issued in error and when discovered shall be withdrawn. In terms of section 48 of the Immigration Act 2002, as amended, no illegal foreigner shall be exempt from the provision of this Act or be allowed to sojourn in the Republic on the grounds that “he or she was admitted or allowed to remain in the Republic through error” or misrepresentation or because his or her being an illegal foreigner was undiscovered.
Not with standing anything mentioned above, VFS is advised in the interim to allow applicants who are carrying an expired passport which was endorsed with a visa that expires beyond the passport expiry date to submit applications for visa transfer to a new passport. This is to allow the applicants to have a valid visa endorsed onto a valid passport as defined in Immigration Regulation 2 and to regularize their status properly.
The Department will in the meantime address the issue of expiry dates at the adjudication level in order to prevent the re-occurrence of this error in future.

This is what is written on the VFS site, I'm also in this situation and in the process of renewing my student visa. My visa was granted in 2014 and the visa expires end of this year. This was only brought up in the beginning of 2017 so not sure where I stand now.


----------

