Foreign nationals intending to establish a business in South Africa may
apply for a business visa subject to meeting the prescribed
requirements including a minimum capital investment (5 million rand)
and proof or undertaking that 60 per cent of the employees directly
employed in the business will be South African citizens or permanent
residents.
Further, the Act prescribes that a business visa may not be issued or
renewed in respect of any business undertaking that has been listed as
undesirable in the Government Gazette after consultation between the
Minister of the Department of Home Affairs and the Minister of Trade
and Industry.
Is there a special route (including fast track) for high net worth
individuals for a residence permission route into your jurisdiction?
South Africa Sa Migration International
See question 16.
Highly skilled individuals
Is there a special route for highly skilled individuals?
South Africa Sa Migration International
Yes, there are options available under temporary and permanent
residence.
Temporary residence
Critical skills work visa
A critical skills work visa may be issued to a foreign national
provided that such foreign national falls within a specific
professional category or occupational class as determined by
publication by the DHA. The critical skills visa list, published in the
Government Gazette (on 3 June 2014), includes several new categories,
including information communication and technology (expanded list),
business process outsourcing and retains engineers, life and earth
science professionals and health professionals, among others.
A critical

skills work visa may be applied for and issued upon receipt
of an offer of employment or in the absence thereof; however, the
holder of a critical skills work visa must confirm securing employment
within a period of 12 months of obtaining the critical skills work
visa.
In late 2018, a draft critical skills list was to be released for
consultation with stakeholders. The revised list would essentially
reduce certain categories, while expanding others, on the critical
skills list. The final revised critical skills list has yet to be
published and released for use.
The impact on applicants would be that those who previously qualified
for critical skills may not qualify once the amended critical skills
list is published and they would need to revert to the general work
visa category where applicable. The inability to qualify for critical
skills would also remove their eligibility to immediately apply for
permanent residence as would have been possible under a critical skills
visa.
Permanent residence
Permanent residence may be granted to a foreign national, subject to
any prescribed requirements, who demonstrates that he or she possesses
extraordinary skills or qualifications under the circumstances or as
may be prescribed. Accordingly, holders of critical skills work visas
are able to apply for permanent residence in South Africa in the
absence of any prescribed waiting period (subject to confirmation in
practice owing to the recent implementation of the Amendment Act).
www.samigration.com V.2992

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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