My Zimbabwean employee, Peter, has worked for me since 2017. Do I need to apply for a waiver? And where do I find it?

The long answer

Thank you for your email asking for correct information on ZEP permits and waivers for your Zimbabwean employee, Peter, who has worked for you since 2017 and has had the required permits to be here. You now need to apply for a waiver and you cannot find a waiver form online. You have just applied for a new ZEP for which you have paid R1 735 and have been told you need to make an appointment with VFS Global which you have not yet been able to do. Peter is convinced that it was not necessary to have applied for a new ZEP, so you need correct information.

To start with: All original ZEPs are extended and valid till 29 November 2024, to give ZEP holders a chance to apply for a new ZEP that would expire on 29 November
2025, or an alternative work visa. A ZEP holder who had applied for a waiver or alternate visa would not be required to apply for a new ZEP because their current ZEP would be valid until the outcome of their waiver or alternate visa applications. However, they could apply for a new ZEP if they wanted to.

Current ZEP holders can either apply for new ZEPS or apply for a waiver so that they can apply for work visas. A new ZEP would be valid until 29 November 2025.

There will be no renewal of ZEPs after 29 November 2025. So, you would still need to apply for a waiver so that Peter could apply for a general work permit, which has now been made much more possible than it was previously, through the new Minister of Home Affairs making waivers available since July 2024. For ZEP holders like Peter who has a job, the waiver of the impossibly stringent conditions for getting a work visa, will certainly increase his chances of getting a work visa for up to five years, which can then pave the way to his acquiring permanent residence.

Itweb.co.za in an article on 25 November 2024, said that Home Affairs (DHA) will now deliver the outcomes of visa waiver applications via e-mail to applicants, starting
with Zimbabwe Exemption Permits (ZEPs). Apparently applicants will no longer be required to visit a VFS Global branch to collect physical, paper-based copies of the waiver letters, but applicants who preferred to collect their hardcopy ZEP waiver letters at branches could still do so.

Emails would come from the following official address:
No-reply1.dhasa@vfshelpline.com (This address goes up to No-reply6.dhasa@vfshelpline.com)

Immigration Consulting (imcosa.co.za), noted in their September 2024 newsletter that it could take two to three months from applying for a new permit to receiving it, so you were probably quite right to apply for a new ZEP when you did. The fee you paid – R1 735 - is the standard fee for applying for a new ZEP. You should make your appointment with VFS Global as soon as possible and ask them to assist you to apply for a waiver too while you are there – and if they say you can’t do it in the same appointment, ask them to at least show you how you can access the waiver form.

Wishing you the best,
Athalie