Be careful!

Be very careful! The staff first advised us to NOT get an airport transit visa despite preparing for one based on the consulate's website. During our appointment, we insisted that VFS staff call the consulate. The manager called the consulate who, apparently, confirmed that we DO need a visa, based on our flight details. Two weeks later and VFS notifies us that the consulate said we do NOT require a transit visa. We are now fighting to get a FULL REFUND of our application, as we continued with it based on 1) VFS' advice and 2) the apparent telephonic confirmation from the consulate that we DO need a transit visa.

This is the breakdown of the fees they charged us:

R1,445 – Visa fees R476 – VFS service fees R25 – SMS service fees R180 – Courier service fees R103.50 – COVID fee = R2,229.50