Will I get another 30 days in SA when I travel to Zanzibar and other countries?
My boyfriend and I are in SA on a holiday, and only after arriving realised we made an error in judgement on the visa front.
Turns out Poland (his passport) only get 30 instead of 90 days when they enter SA. Also turns out that this covers any travel to either any neighbouring country, or any country until he goes back home.
Our itinerary means we are flying to Zanzibar for 8 nights and returning the day before his visa expires, and due to leave again the day after it expires to fly to Zimbabwe/Vic Falls, before taking an overland trip through Botswana & Namibia and entering SA again through a land border post. We'd be gone for 3 weeks during this time, and visiting 3 other countries, albeit neighbouring countries of SA. If it makes things better we can cross over into Zambia for the day while we're in Vic Falls, to get a stamp from a country that's once removed from SA.
Our main question is, if anyone can say for sure or close enough to, is it likely that he will get a new 30 day stamp upon return from Zanzibar (he would have just 1 day left on his visa at that point, and a ticket to leave the country the day after expiry)? Is it likely he would get 30 days upon entry from Namibia into SA by land? Would it be more likely if his visa had already expired vs. if he had a few days left (if he gets 30 days after Zanzibar, he'd still have about 5 days left when we get back to SA). Also, does anyone know more about the 7 day transit visa? It seems like a last resort option for him if all else fails, to be able to get back in to catch our return flight from Joburg.
Best Answer
An unsourced, anecdotal answer on our other similar question says that you get a full reset by going to Zanzibar (i.e., Tanzania), but not if going to one of the countries sharing a border with South Africa. The other answer, which does have sourcing, says the opposite: only a return to home country (here, Poland) resets the clock. Another site says that you can get a visa extension inside South Africa, and at the cost of killing several hours dealing with bureaucrats, that would solve your problem.
I didn't vote this as a duplicate because of the conflict in answers on the previous question.
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