South Africa’s Minister of Home Affairs, Leon Schreiber, has announced an extension for the Zimbabwean Exemption Permit (ZEP), offering relief to thousands of Zimbabweans living in the country.
Under Minister’s Immigration Directive No 21 of 2025, published in the Government Gazette of 07 October 2025, all existing ZEPs, which were originally set to expire on 28 November 2025, will now remain valid until 28 May 2027. Said Schreiber:
“Existing ZEPs shall be deemed to remain valid for an additional (18) eighteen months after the current expiry date of 28 November 2025.”
Schreiber said the extension follows several meetings of the Immigration Advisory Board, appointed in April this year, which has been considering both immediate measures and long-term solutions for ZEP holders.
During the extension period, ZEP holders will not be arrested, detained, or deported for failing to have a valid exemption certificate.
They are also allowed to enter and leave South Africa as long as they meet all other immigration requirements, and they will not be required to present a valid exemption certificate, visa, or authorisation letter when applying for temporary visas in the country. Said Schreiber:
“No holder of the exemption may be arrested, ordered to depart or be detained for purposes of deportation or deported in terms of section 34 of the Immigration Act for any reason related to him or her not having any valid exemption certificate;
“The holder of an exemption certificate may be allowed to enter into or depart from the Republic of South Africa in terms of section 9 of the Immigration Act, read together with the Immigration Regulations, 2014, provided that he or she complies with all other requirements for entry into and departure from the Republic, save for the reason of not having a valid visa endorsed in his or her passport;
“No ZEP holder should be required to produce a valid exemption certificate, visa or an authorisation letter to remain in the Republic as contemplated in section 32(1) of the Immigration Act when making an application for any category of the visa for temporary sojourn in the Republic as contemplated in section 10(2) of the Immigration Act.”
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