South African travel agents are spending hours monitoring visa appointment booking systems, often late at night and over weekends, as limited availability for several destinations threatens clients’ travel plans and increases the administrative burden on agencies.
Asiah Khan from Avoca Travels identified Poland, Norway and the US as destinations where securing appointments has proved particularly challenging.
“Polish authorities advise applicants that, due to high demand, securing an appointment at a convenient time can be difficult. For Norway, appointment availability has at times been limited despite the Embassy’s published guidance indicating that appointments should be obtained within three working days. US visa applicants must also plan ahead, with appointment availability varying by consular location.”
Khan said other Schengen destinations also experience periodic appointment constraints, depending on the city, application centre, season and available capacity.
With limited options available, agents are booking the earliest appointments they can secure and then repeatedly checking for cancellations in the hope of finding earlier slots.
“The only thing we can do is book the earliest and then check constantly for a cancellation. This creates additional work as it sometimes means checking in the early hours of the morning,” said Heather Lavery, Owner of The Travelling Agent.
It also takes up extra time that agents could be using elsewhere. “It is a very time-consuming exercise that means we work outside of the normal workday to keep checking on the appointment booking sites,” said Nirvana Jagessur from Travel and Events.
Jagessur said checking appointment sites outside normal working hours, including at midnight, 06h00 and over weekends, can help as new slots may become available during these times.
Costly consequences
According to Lavery, visa appointment delays can have costly knock-on effects for travellers who have already finalised their travel arrangements, forcing them to cancel travel arrangements or change their destination.
“Clients may have to postpone their departure, change flights, rebook accommodation or alter an itinerary. Depending on booking conditions, this can result in amendment fees, fare differences and cancellation charges,” said Khan.
Repeated changes to travel arrangements can also create complications for agencies. “When visa appointment delays or processing uncertainty force clients to move travel dates repeatedly, agents may need to cancel, amend or recreate flight reservations several times.”
Khan warned that repeated booking and cancellation activity could potentially be classified as 'churning', resulting in an ADM even where bookings are genuine and changes are driven by visa uncertainty.
Securing an appointment also does not guarantee that a visa will be issued before the client's intended departure.
“Even if a client secures an appointment before departure, there’s no guarantee that the visa will be processed in time. For this reason, visa appointment availability has effectively become part of the critical path in planning international travel,” said Khan.
Khan advised clients to start the visa application process early.
“We encourage clients to begin the visa process as soon as they are legally permitted to do so, rather than waiting until flights and accommodation are committed. We monitor the official booking platform for newly released appointments and cancellations, advise clients to remain flexible about travel dates and keep documents ready so earlier appointments can be accepted immediately.”