There are three common types of Work Visas:
General Work Visa
Inter Company Transfer Visa
Critical Skills Visa
General Work Visa
Under the General Work Visa there are very strict requirements.
The South African government, although trying to promote work and
trade in South Africa, recognize the need to give South Africans
the chance to obtain employment ahead of any foreigner. You will
have to prove that you are the only person who can fill that
position and that no other South African can play that role. This
is done by placing an advert in a national newspaper advertising
the position. A Department of Labour report would need to be
obtained. You will also have to have a job offer/contract from
your future employer. The most important part of the process is
skills assessment by SAQA (South African Qualifications Authority)
in SA which evaluates your formal qualifications and compares to a
SA qualification which process is mandatory and for this we would
need your academic transcripts and award diplomas. Note under the
regulations provision is made for the recognition of work
experience in the absence of formal qualifications and this
therefore makes provision for the recognition of prior work
experience ( RPL) . This is a paper based system which merely
compares the foreign qualifications and arrives at an equivalent
qualification in SA, if qualified in SA then no SAQA needed. Next
you as employer have to prove that you are the only person who can
fill that position and that no other South African can play that
role. This is done by placing an advert in a national newspaper
advertising the position. You will also have to have a job
offer/contract from your future employer. Please note the work
Visa is issued in the name of the employer so the person is tied
to the employer. If they change the job they will require a new
work Visa. There is some good news for people who are qualified
through work experience only and they can qualify if they do not
require formal qualifications, ie SAQA.
Inter Company Transfer Visa
An intra-company transfer work Visa may be issued by the
Department to a foreigner who is employed abroad by a business
operating in the Republic in a branch, subsidiary or affiliate
relationship and who by reason of his or her employment is
required to conduct work in the Republic. An important factor is
that the applicant has to have been employed with the company
abroad for a period of not less than 6 months.
The Intra company transfer is not designed to be a long term visa.
The idea is to bring in foreign workers employed by the company
abroad with a branch or subsidiary branch here in

South Africa;
they work or conduct training for four years, and then return
home.
This Visa does not require the hassle of proving the company could
not find suitable applicants and it does not require the hassle of
verifying an applicant’s formal qualifications. It is based purely
on employment. If you are a company that needs to transfer in
foreign employers, please contact us and we will make this go as
smoothly as possible. It is important to note that this category
of work Visa cannot be granted for more than four (4) years and
this type of Visa is not extendable.

Critical Skills Visa
The Critical Skills Visa South Africa is for skilled workers whose
occupation is on the Critical Skills Visa List for South Africa.
This list reflects the occupations that are in demand in South
Africa.
The newly published eSkill’s or qualifications determined to be
critical for the Republic of South Africa in relation to an
application for a Critical Skills Visa or Permanent Residence Visa
This category of work visa may be issued to an applicant who falls
within a specific professional category or specific occupational
class determined by the Minister by notice in the Government
Gazette.
This is done after consultation with the Minister of Labour and
the Minister of Trade and Industry. If an applicant falls within
one of the professional categories listed on the critical skills
list and also has the appropriate post qualification working
experience in that profession then such applicant may qualify to
apply for this category of work Visa. The applicant also needs to
where applicable register with the relevant South African
professional accreditation body regulating that industry as
stipulated by Minister of Home Affairs .Such body must also
confirm the applicants skills, qualifications and working
experience. Furthermore, such applicants qualifications need to be
evaluated relevant to a South African level. An applicant for a
Critical Skills Visa may enter South Africa on such visa without
having secured a job offer first. It is, however, required of the
applicant to confirm employment with the Department of Home
Affairs within a period of one (1) year upon arrival in South
Africa, failing which, the Visa would automatically lapse. The
Critical Skills Work Visa is tied to an individual and not to an
employer so under this Visa a person can leave from one employer
to the next without obtaining a new work Visa. V.2695

I recently renewed my passport at Home Affairs in a bank branch and was very impressed with the service and quick turnaround time. The Department of Home Affairs (DHA) and major banks first launched the option to do Smart ID card and passport applications via select bank branches in 2016. It has slowly grown to around 30 locations, including branches from Absa, Discovery Bank, FNB, Investec, Nedbank, and Standard Bank. My passport was set to expire in October 2024, and because many countries require that your passport be valid for six months from a travel date, a renewal was due. V.5324
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DA MP says this is up 20 000 from the 74 000 six months previously Department of Home Affairs visa backlog is up by 20 000 in 6 months The Democratic Alliance (DA) can reveal that the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) Visa backlog has increased from 74 000 in August 2023 to 92 000 as of 16 February 2024. This is an increase of just under 20 000 in about 6 months. Download the Parliamentary question and answer here. The increase goes against what the Minister told the Home Affairs Parliamentary Committee in March 2023. V.5325
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The European Union (EU) will limit visas for people from Ethiopia. This is because the Ethiopian government hasn`t been helping take back citizens who stay in the EU illegally. The EU Council announced this in a statement on Monday. Ethiopians won`t get visas for multiple entries anymore. Also, Ethiopians with diplomatic and service passports won`t have their visa fees waived. V.5326
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CRIMINAL convictions more than two decades ago came to haunt a man who was offered a job as a senior data discovery and enrichment expert, but after his prospective employer got wind of the convictions, retracted the job offer. But the Gqeberha Labour Court came to his rescue and found that the man should be given a second chance, given that his convictions occurred 20 years ago and had meanwhile been expunged. V.5327
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Nigeria’s economy, which ranked as Africa’s largest in 2022, is set to slip to fourth place this year and Egypt, which held the top position in 2023, is projected to fall to second behind South Africa after a series of currency devaluations, International Monetary Fund forecasts show. The IMF’s World Economic Outlook estimates Nigeria’s gross domestic product at $253 billion based on current prices this year, lagging energy-rich Algeria at $267 billion, Egypt at $348 billion and South Africa at $373 billion. V.5328
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There are fears that more people will be separated by the introduction of a minimum salary level for those wanting UK family visas. Families living in the UK and abroad have raised concerns about what new rules will mean for them as they try to reunite with foreign spouses. In December, the Home Office, which says migration to the UK is too high, announced a package of measures to reduce net migration, following a spike in arrival numbers. V.5318
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An Ethiopian asylum seeker, who does not speak English, claims he was duped by a senior immigration official into paying an admission of guilt fine when he thought he was paying for bail.Two Western Cape High Court judges have condemned the official`s `deplorable` behaviour, set aside the fine, and ordered the immigration official be taken off the case. Tsegaye Esyas claims Annelise van Dyk treated him like an animal which led to him attempt suicide while in police cells. V.5320
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EREMY MAGGS: I want to stay with crime now. Individuals with a criminal record may be faced with significant challenges when seeking employment, I think that’s a given. Here in South Africa, employers may legally exclude an applicant from consideration for a position if having a clean criminal record is what is termed an inherent requirement of the job. That phrase, inherent requirement, is important, but what exactly does that mean, and when can an applicant be lawfully excluded for having a criminal record? V.5321
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As a South African who has adopted a nomadic work lifestyle alongside my wife, Ingrid Lotze, I’ve been an interested observer of South Africa’s snail-pace digital nomad visa (DNV) development process. Despite the optimism surrounding its introduction, the visa seems to miss several crucial marks for digital nomads like us. V.5322
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DA MP says hours lost continue to result in persons being unable to collect their ID documents due to unmanageable queues The DA has been inundated with complaints that the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) systems are offline, resulting in long queues and delayed processing of documents. Through questions posed to the Minister, the DA can now reveal that the DHA has lost over 77 years’ worth of working hours due to system downtime and load-shedding from 2019 to date. Concerningly, this data only relates to hours lost for the application of smart IDs, meaning decades more of working hours could have been additionally lost in other spheres such as passport or visa applications. V.5314
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