Immigrating to South Africa

You don’t just have to be a tourist in South Africa – a person can temporarily or permanently here as well – to study, retire, work or even take a sabbatical! If you are already in the country as a temporary resident (in another words holds a valid visa to be in South Africa on a category which is not a tourist visa), you are eligible to make an application for permanent residency within South Africa, too. Of course, this application must fall within a set list of categories, which range from work based to financial independence. 

It’s pretty well known that South Africa struggles with a high unemployment rate – and so the Department of Home Affairs can only afford to provide work visas for those who are skilled workers, transferring skills to the South African labour force or hold a skill that cannot be found within South Africa.  It’s for this reason that those who come into the Republic on other categories such as a relatives or a retirement visa, will be specifically excluded from being able to work in the Republic – an attempt by government to provide work for the 30% plus of South Africans who currently are unemployed.

South African immigration law is published and held in the Immigration Act (No 13 of 2002), which specifies the standards that an applicant must meet in order to immigrate permanently to South Africa. Besides setting out various categories of residency, the Immigration Act also makes it clear that you cannot be a person who is ‘prohibited’ or ‘undesirable’ when making an application for a visa. 

June Luna Immigration Attorneys will assist you with all of your South African immigration needs. If you have any inquires regarding immigration in South Africa, please get in touch with us.