Short-term transfers

Source: SAMI, 31/10/2019

Non-visa-exempt nationals are required to apply for the required
visitor’s visa in person at the South African representative in their
home country or country of long-term residence and receive same prior
to travelling to South Africa. The visitor’s visa may be issued for a
maximum period of 90 days (single or multiple entry) and the processing
time ranges from 10 to 15 working days calculated from the date of
submission of the application.
The purpose of these visitors’ visas is to facilitate entry for tourism
and limited business purposes while work activities are prohibited. All
foreign nationals (irrespective of nationality) intending to perform
short-term work in South Africa are required to apply for a section
11(2) visitor’s visa in person from the South African representative in
their home country or country of long-term residence and receive same
prior to travelling to South Africa.
Eligibility to perform work-related activities under a section 11(2)
visitor’s visa is subject to specific qualifying criteria originally
introduced by the DHA in December 2011 and amended in May 2014.
Restrictions
What are the main restrictions on a business visitor?
South Africa Sa Migration International
A foreign national entering South Africa to undertake business
activities (not work) will be permitted to attend local business
meetings or training and strategy sessions for a limited duration.
There is no specific maximum duration applicable to business visitors;
however, the foreign national, if queried, must be able to justify the
length of stay spent in South Africa and the non-work-related
activities being performed. A business visitor should not receive
remuneration from a South African source while present in South Africa.
A foreign national intending to perform work-related activities within
South Africa must obtain a visitor’s visa (section 11(2) of the Act)
with special conditions. General practice requires such foreign
national to retain employment abroad throughout his or her stay in
South Africa (external contractor resources are only permitted in
certain instances) and, in accordance with the revised qualifying
criteria, such foreign national’s activities in the country must be of
an urgent nature and such individual must be unable to qualify for a
formal category of work visa. The DHA has further issued a directive
preventing certain applicants from eligibility for a section 11(2)
visitor’s visa based on the intended activities to be performed in
South Africa (these exclusions include project managers and self-
employed applicants).
A recent directive issued by the Department of Home Affairs in April
2019 has limited the issuance of these visas to an initial 90-day visa
issued at a South African embassy abroad, followed by an extension of
the visa for a further 90 days from South Africa within the same
calendar year. Total duration is limited to 180 days per year and a
third section 11(2) visa cannot be applied for abroad within the same
calendar year.
This has been the accepted practice for some time; however, the
directive further makes reference to prohibiting back-to-back issuance
of section 11(2) visitor’s visas from the consulate in the applicant’s
home country.
There is no definition of the time period intended by ‘back to back’
and this will impact applicants who are assigned to South Africa on
different projects during a 12-month period (where such project
intervals exceed 180 days from assignment start date) as the previous
solution of applying for a second section 11(2) visitor’s visa at the
consulate (as opposed to the extension from within South Africa) is now
subject to discretion and potentially removed as an option (this will
impact applications processed through Australia, Canada, the United
Kingdom and the United States, where the issuance of second such visas
was previously possible).
The holder of a section 11(2) visitor’s visa may be remunerated from
within South Africa (including freelance or consulting services);
however, the foreign national may only open a non-resident bank account
that, generally speaking, only permits receipts from offshore. Holders
of a visitor’s visa further cannot import household goods free of duty
or VAT.
Short-term training
Is work authorisation or immigration permission needed to give or
receive short-term training?
South Africa Sa Migration International
The differentiating factor is found in the activities to be performed
in the country. Attending training should not require a work
endorsement, whereas presenting or facilitating training will require a
work endorsement as these activities are consistent with work-related
activities.
Transit
Are transit visas required to travel through your country? How are
these obtained? Are they only required for certain nationals?
South Africa Sa Migration International
Under a directive issued in 2015, the Minister of Home Affairs exempted
travellers transiting through the following international airports in
South Africa from requiring transit visas:
• OR Tambo;
• Cape Town;
• King Shaka; and
• Lanseria.
Travellers transiting these airports will be subjected to biometric
capturing, and travellers using land ports of entry to transit through
South Africa should apply for port of entry visas.
However, deportees transiting must be in possession of transit visas
and at all times be escorted; failing which, they must be returned to
the airline that conveyed them for removal from the country.
A transit visa is required when travelling to one of the following
neighbouring countries via South Africa: Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique,
Namibia, Swaziland and Zimbabwe.
Transit visas are not issued at South African ports of entry and
applications must be made to the South African representative abroad.
Transit visas are issued for periods up to 72 hours and the processing
time ranges from five to 10 days calculated from the date of submission
thereof.
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