# Overstay and Form 20



## bridgit (Jan 15, 2015)

I hope the knowledgable ones can assist, the likes of Legalman, Tony etc. i am currently on an accompanying spouse permit and my infant is on a dependant child permit. our permits expire on the 18th of April, this Saturday. Hubby applied for his ZSP in January and we are still waiting, the ZSP manager says its approved but we will have to wait for due processes to take place and then VFS will call us. I went to home affairs on the 27th of March to apply for Form 20 which apparently is back but they said me and my son should first become illegal immigrants, only then can we apply for form 20. Hmmm, knowing home affairs and the fact that should i see a different official next time i go there i might be welcomed with a different point of view, i am scared. what are you guys' thoughts on this matter, what is home affairs' track record with regards to these form 20 applications because i do not want to overstay and find myself in a worse situation than i am right now but at the same time, i do not want to split my family. please assist. thank you


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## Jack14 (Oct 26, 2014)

Leave before your visa expire


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## Skilled (May 10, 2011)

I suggest once your VISA is about to expire, you go home until your husband get his permit. Then you will be able to apply for your permits without any issue.

Do not take unnecessary risks. You will be banned from entering SA for a long time. If you think going home temporarily is not an option, you need to re-new your permits. They will require your spouse's permit among other things.


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## LegalMan (Dec 26, 2012)

bridgit said:


> I hope the knowledgable ones can assist, the likes of Legalman, Tony etc. i am currently on an accompanying spouse permit and my infant is on a dependant child permit. our permits expire on the 18th of April, this Saturday. Hubby applied for his ZSP in January and we are still waiting, the ZSP manager says its approved but we will have to wait for due processes to take place and then VFS will call us. I went to home affairs on the 27th of March to apply for Form 20 which apparently is back but they said me and my son should first become illegal immigrants, only then can we apply for form 20. Hmmm, knowing home affairs and the fact that should i see a different official next time i go there i might be welcomed with a different point of view, i am scared. what are you guys' thoughts on this matter, what is home affairs' track record with regards to these form 20 applications because i do not want to overstay and find myself in a worse situation than i am right now but at the same time, i do not want to split my family. please assist. thank you


Hi Bridgit, 

Did your hubby apply for extensions of your accompanying spouse and minor visa, along with his ZSP application in January? Has he been to VFS to see if the visa sticker is actually there? rather than just waiting for them to call?


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## bridgit (Jan 15, 2015)

Thank you everyone for all your replies. I decided to fly back home a few days before the permits expired and my husband ended up getting his renewal the week after so I just had a nice 3 week holiday. We came back, baby and I got an additional 90 days stamped in our passports and the next day we went for our VFS appointments. Last week I got emails that our applications have been sent back to VFS Cape Town so fingers crossed we got our renewals. thank you all for your wonderful advice.


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## Nyasha935 (Aug 10, 2017)

I applied for renewal of my critical skills work visa in June last year and my permit was due for expiration in July 2016. However the application was rejected and i had to do an appeal application. The appeal application again came with a rejected decision because i made an error on my job description and the adjudicators said the job is not on the Critical Skills list. However i am employed as an Enterprise Architect which is a listed critical skill. The appeal decision came 8 months after and by that time my Critical Skills Visa had expired. I did another application for renewal through VFS and they said its impossible with an expired visa. They advised i go to Home Affairs and apply for legalization of my expired visa (fill in form 20 and form 23 after). Then only after that will i be able to apply for a renewal again. I got all my documents ready. Please urgently advise.


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## Oyibopeppeh (Sep 8, 2010)

Do a search on "Letter of good cause" and "Form 20"

I did a detailed how-to on this subject


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