Since the declaration of the national state of disaster, which was followed by the national lockdown, all public and private offices and institutions were closed down, including the Department of Home Affairs.
The Department has been issuing directives that all visas and permits that expired or were due to expire on, before, or after 25 March 2020 should be deemed valid. The latest blanket extension ran to 31 December 2021, implying that all immigration visas and refugee (or asylum-seeker) permits that expired during the said period remained valid until that date.