Italy halts visa applications this month.
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According to TravelNews, the pause forms part of a scheduled maintenance and upgrade of the Italian consulate and VFS Global visa systems and will affect travellers worldwide. During this period, both platforms will be temporarily offline, meaning no new visa applications can be submitted and no in-person services will be available.
Across Southern Africa, several VFS centres will be impacted. In Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban, Gaborone, Nelspruit, Polokwane and Bloemfontein, centres will close from 11 to 18 February, with normal operations resuming on 19 February. In Cape Town, Gqeberha and George, services will be unavailable from 13 to 17 February, reopening on 18 February.
Travellers with existing appointments will be contacted directly by their visa centre with instructions on how to reschedule. Applicants who submitted their documents before the shutdown will still be able to collect their passports during the maintenance period.
The temporary suspension comes as Italy continues to modernise its visa systems in line with broader Schengen Zone efforts to improve processing efficiency and move towards more digitised visa services in the future.
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