Work Permit
Working Permits / Working Visas
South Africa seeks highly skilled individuals to live and work in SA.
SA Migration Services will professionally help to arrange Work Permits for you if you qualify.
Work permits are regulated in terms of Section 19, Regulation 28 and items 19(1), 19(2), 20, 21 and 22, of Schedule A.
There are four common types of Work Permits:
- General Work Permit
- Inter Company Transfer Permit
- Quota Work Permits
- Exceptional Skills Work Permits
There are four common types of Work Permits:
1. General Work Permit
2. Inter Company Transfer Permit
3. Quota Work Permits
4. Exceptional Skills Work Permits
Foreign nationals wishing to work in South Africa can apply for a work permit on a temporary or permanent basis via a number of different permit types that varies dependent on their circumstances or qualifications spread across different categories.
General Work Permits
Under the General Work Permit 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 get work before 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.
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.
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 permit 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 permit.
There is good news for people who are qualified through work experience only and they don’t require formal qualifications, ie SAQA.
Inter Company Transfer Permit
An intra-company transfer work permit 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.
Quota Work Permits
AÂ quota work permit may be issued by the Department as prescribed to a foreigner if the foreigner falls within a category determined by the Minister at least annually by notice in the Gazette after consultation with the Ministers of Labour and Trade and Industry and as long as the number of work permits so issued for such category does not exceed the quota determined in the notice.
There is a mandatory 5 years experience that is necessary.
The quota work permit is tied to an individual and not to an employer so under this permit a person can leave from one employer to the next without obtaining a new work permit.
Download the list / government gazette here (Updated: 25th April 2009)
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Exceptional Skills Work Permits
This permit type is similar to the quota permit above but is broader then the above in that there is no published list but the measurement is against very specific criteria:
- A letter from a foreign or South African organ of state or from an established SA academic, cultural or business body confirming the exceptional skills of the applicant.
- Publications and testimonials.
| Head Office | ||
| Cape Town, South Africa |
Tel.:
Email: |
+27 (0) 21 465 0333 Landline
info@sami.co.za |
