I can't speak from personal experience because I have not been through the SVA/IVA with a build.
That said, as far as I am aware, the vast majority of builds that have passed SVA/IVA, have had their steering shafts extended in the way pictured above
Assuming welding of that part is still OK, you would probably earn some more Brownie points with the IVA tester if you drilled through the joined sections & fitted a double roll pin in there as a failsafe
If i were to make a permanent extension such as the one above, I think I would turn a couple of bosses up & use a smaller solid round bar, welded with roll pins.
In the ever changing IVA test, it is hard to keep track of what is & isn't allowed
