South African travellers continue to face significant visa delays for Canada and Ireland, but while Ireland's processing timelines have become relatively predictable, Canada's highly inconsistent processing remains a major challenge for agents.
According to agents, Canada's visa system has become increasingly difficult to navigate, with processing times varying dramatically from one application to the next and little certainty around when approvals will be issued.
Helen Havemann from HTH Travel, said Canadian visa processing had shown little improvement over the years. “Passengers submitted their Canadian visa for travel in October 2025 and only received a request to submit their passports on June 1 the following year. For business travel, clients received it in 30 days.”
Peter-John de Klerk from Coast to Coast Visa Services said Canada’s processing times remained highly unpredictable.
“They can take over a year to be issued yet some visas are issued within weeks. There is no way to speed it up or even get an estimated time frame. We have a pending visa since November 2024 and yet other visas we get out in a month,” said De Klerk.
Although Canada’s official website currently indicates a processing time of 116 days, he warned that applicants should not rely on this.
“It changes from client to client. In the last few weeks I must say there has been a slight increase in visa approvals. I feel if you have a compassionate reason for travel, they go out of their way to get the visa approved,” said De Klerk.
“Unfortunately, this is the new norm. When clients enquire about Canada, we tell them that there is no guarantee when or if the visa will be issued. However, not all clients understand this.
“When it comes to leisure travel, one cannot predict anything. I have had clients unable to go on a cruise due to visa not being issued,” said De Klerk.
The risk of delays has prompted many agencies to change how they handle Canadian bookings.
Due to past experiences, Havemann said HTH Travel refused to issue flight tickets until clients had received their Canadian visas.
“We try our best to avoid booking leisure holidays to Canada. For clients visiting family, we encourage them to apply immediately and only book once visas are approved,” she said.
The agency has also reduced sales of itineraries that require Canadian entry.
“Where we used to book many Alaska cruises that touched Canada, we now avoid them, and we are hardly selling Canada any more,” said Havemann.
Ireland more predictable
While Ireland's visa process remains lengthy, agents say it is generally easier to manage.
According to De Klerk, Irish visas currently take around 14 weeks to process and are often issued according to travellers' departure dates.
Havemann agreed, noting that Ireland tended to work to travel dates, making it easier for agents to plan around expected timelines.
Even so, the delays continue to affect travel planning.
“Clients travelling to Ireland had to remove that part of the holiday and only visit the rest of Europe by rerouting their tickets,” said Havemann.
As a result, agencies are increasingly building additional lead time into bookings. Havemann said her agency generally avoided leisure bookings to Ireland within four months of departure.
Managing expectations
Agencies have adopted a cautious approach to Canadian travel bookings.
“We always tell our clients not to pay for their flights until visas are received to avoid penalties. We provide flights itinerary and hotel bookings with cancellation time frames to avoid financial loss,” said Amina Jones from Trips and Beyond.
She said time planning remained essential for travellers as it helped avoid financial losses from changing flight dates and rebooking penalties.
Managing client expectations has become a critical part of the process. “The best we can do is provide clients with evidence from their online profile and showing them that the embassy does not give any updates. All we can do is understand the clients’ frustration and sympathise with them. Unfortunately, we do have some clients who would rather blame us for the delays but we need to bite the bullet and understand them and their feelings,” said De Klerk.
