o increase your chances of scoring 100 points for the Critical Skills Work Visa in South Africa, you need to maximize your eligibility based on the points system used by the Department of Home Affairs (DHA). This system evaluates your profile in areas such as qualifications, work experience, age, and other relevant factors. Here’s how you can improve your points and overall application:

1. Qualifications (Maximizing Points for Education)
• Higher Education: The more advanced your qualifications, the more points you’ll earn. Holding a PhD or Master's Degree in a field related to your critical skill will give you the highest points.
o PhD: Earns the maximum points in the education category.
o Master's Degree: Also scores high but slightly less than a PhD.
o Bachelor's Degree: You still earn points, but less than for a Master's or PhD.

How to Maximize:
• Obtain the highest possible academic qualifications in your critical skill area.
• Have your qualifications evaluated by SAQA (South African Qualifications Authority) to ensure they meet South African standards.
2. Work Experience (Maximizing Points for Experience)
• Relevant Experience: The more years of relevant work experience in your critical skill area, the more points you will earn.
o 10+ years of experience in a critical skill will get you the maximum points.
o 5 to 10 years of experience will earn fewer points, while less than 5 years will score lower.

How to Maximize:
• Ensure you provide detailed proof of your relevant work experience, including letters from employers, employment contracts, and a CV highlighting your specific critical skills.
• Focus on getting experience in the specific critical skill category that aligns with South Africa’s needs (e.g., ICT, engineering, finance, healthcare).
3. Professional Registration (Boost Your Points with Professional Membership)
• Professional Body Membership: If your critical skill requires registration with a South African professional body, obtaining this membership will significantly boost your points.
o Registration with a professional body is essential for certain sectors like engineering, medical, and legal professions.

How to Maximize:
• Register with the relevant South African professional council or regulatory body (e.g., ECSA for engineers, SAICA for accountants, HPCSA for healthcare professionals).
• Keep your membership active and up to date before applying.
4. Job Offer (Get Points for Securing Employment)
• Having a valid job offer from a South African employer related to your critical skill will give you a higher chance of scoring maximum points.

How to Maximize:
• Secure a job offer from a recognized employer before applying for the visa.
• Ensure the job is directly related to your critical skill, and that the employer can provide detailed documentation.
5. Age (Gain Points for Being in a Preferred Age Range)
• Applicants between the ages of 25 and 40 typically earn the most points. Younger applicants (under 25) and older applicants (over 45) score fewer points.

How to Maximize:
• If you are in the 25 to 40 age bracket, this is a strong point in your favor. If you are younger or older, focus on maximizing points in other categories like qualifications and experience.
6. Language Proficiency
• Being proficient in English (or other official South African languages) may also contribute to a higher score, as it ensures that you can integrate and work effectively in South Africa.
How to Maximize:
• Provide evidence of language proficiency if required, such as passing an internationally recognized English language test (e.g., IELTS) if applicable.
7. Additional Points:
• Contributions to South Africa’s Economy: If your skills directly contribute to the development of South Africa's economy or specific industries (such as ICT, engineering, or healthcare), this will further boost your points.
• Permanent Residency Pathway: Earning 100 points is also a good pathway toward obtaining permanent residency later on if you plan to settle in South Africa.

Conclusion:
To score 100 points for the Critical Skills Work Visa, you should focus on:
• Maximizing your qualifications (higher education and SAQA accreditation).
• Gaining significant work experience (ideally 10+ years in your critical skill).
• Registering with a professional body related to your critical skill.
• Securing a job offer in your critical skill area.
• Applying within the optimal age range (25-40). By strengthening these areas, you’ll increase your chances of scoring highly and successfully obtaining the Critical Skills Work Visa.

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The short answer
To be on the safe side, perhaps it would be wise to apply for temporary visas for the family, as well as permanent residence for the whole family, you included.

The whole question
I hold a temporary visa. Can I apply for permanent residence from my home country so that I can apply together with my family? Does my family need to have temporary visas first or can they just apply for permanent residency at the same time as me?

The long answer
In answer to this question: Can my accompanying family apply for permanent residence with me at the same time? samigration . says the following:
“Yes, as long as the applications of the whole family are submitted at the same time then the immediate accompanying family of foreigners applying for permanent residence may apply together. Should the applications not be submitted at the same time, the accompanying family will need to wait for the successful outcome of the main applicant’s permanent residence application to be in a position to apply for permanent residence as his or her immediate family. The foreign spouse of a permanent resident applicant is only eligible to apply for permanent residence having been espoused for at least 5 years.”

As a temporary residence permit has to be renewed online at VFS Global, 60 days before it expires, Sa Migration adds, “In the first instance, it is possible in most cases, for the individual to apply for permanent residency at the same time they apply for temporary residency. The Department of Home Affairs currently has a backlog of permanent residency applications and therefore the processing of these can take anywhere between 12 and 30 months. However, in many cases the permanent residency will be issued before the temporary residency expires, therefore negating the issue of an expired temporary visa.”
As you know, a temporary visa holder can apply for permanent residence after five years of staying in South Africa on the basis of a work permit. It is possible to apply for permanent residency) from outside South Africa as well as within South Africa.

But as Home Affairs says that the permanent residency permit “is also applicable to spouses and dependents of South African citizens/permanent residence permit holders” (my emphasis), it is not clear to me whether the accompanying family must first apply for temporary visas or not. To be on the safe side, perhaps it would be wise to take Intergate Immigration’s tip and apply for temporary visas for the family, as well as permanent residence for the whole family including the main holder of the temporary visa at the same time.

🚗 Call to Action:
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📞 WhatsApp: +27 82 373 8415
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The short answer
You'll need to register your customary marriage
The whole question
My wife and I married in community of property in 2019. We agreed to be in a polygamous marriage, and that I could take a second wife. I already paid lobola for my second wife. What processes do we need to follow in order for her to change her surname to mine once we’re married?
The long answer
All polygamous marriages must be in agreement with the Recognition of Customary Marriages Act of 1998 (RCMA). What that means practically is that you as the husband in an already existing customary marriage must draft a new marriage contract which must be approved by a court before you can marry another wife.
Customary marriage expert, Nthabiseng Monareng, explains that this is because customary marriages are automatically in community of property, and before a husband marries a second wife, the first wife must be given half her share of the marriage assets. This is to make sure that the first wife’s rights are protected and she is not cheated out of what is legally hers.
The court considers the rights of all the parties and may add conditions to make the second marriage valid under the RCMA.
John Manyike, the head of financial education at Old Mutual adds, “It's important to celebrate the customary marriage after lobola negotiations have been concluded. By merely paying or receiving lobola in full without the requisite celebration, the marriage is not concluded in accordance with customary law and is therefore considered invalid. That's why it's important to know the relationship between lobola and a legal marriage.”
According to customary law expert Zama Mopai, “For a customary marriage to be valid, you must first enter into the marriage according to custom, and once that is done then you can proceed to register it.”
A customary marriage should be registered within three months at the Department of Home Affairs. The registering officer at Home Affairs then issues a registration certificate. This is proof that the marriage exists and may avoid disputes in future, although if you don’t register the marriage, the marriage is still valid under the RCMA. However the Deeds Office insists on registration certificates to prove the validity of a customary marriage, so it’s advisable to register the marriage.
Registering the marriage also answers your question about how your second wife can take your surname: Home Affairs has stated that a woman has three options regarding which surname she takes when she gets married:
• She can take her husband’s surname
• She can add her surname to her husband’s (a double-barrel surname)
• She can keep her own surname.
As women married under the RCMA have the same status as women married under the Marriage Act or the Civil Union Act (which do not allow for polygamy), your second wife has the right to take your surname if she chooses and to have that surname recorded on the registration certificate.

The short answer
The answers to your questions are far from clear and we recommend contacting an organisation like Lawyers for Human Rights
The whole question
I am served with papers under section 29 and required to submit written representation within 30 days. Where do I submit the appeal? And to which email address? Will I be required to leave the country or can I wait until I get a decision on the written representation?
My children are three years old and SA citizens.
The long answer
Thank you for your email asking where your appeal against Section 29 must be submitted, and whether you can stay in the country until your appeal is decided.
The most common reasons for which a person can be banned from entering South Africa under Section 29 are that they had been previously deported, or had been found with a fraudulent visa, permit, passport or identity document. You need to submit a written application to the Director-General of Home Affairs (DG) asking that your prohibited status be waived (overturned) and giving reasons for this.
The DG will take into consideration the reasons for the Section 29 papers being issued, the seriousness of the offence, and your personal circumstances – such as having two three year-old children who are South African citizens.
From the Home Affairs website, it was not clear which of the following email addresses was the correct one for appeals, so it’s safer to copy both of them:
The answer to the question of whether you can stay in the country pending the outcome of your appeal is far from clear:
On the one hand, it would seem that under the Refugees Act, you cannot be arrested and deported until you have exhausted the appeal process; but on the other hand, if your visa expires before you get the answer, you may very well be in danger of being arrested. Also, given that Home Affairs is very slow and dysfunctional, you may have to wait a long time

The short answer
Home Affairs is wrong, but it is complicated.
The whole question
I am a South African citizen living in the USA. I got married (same-sex marriage) in 2019 and applied for a new passport reflecting my new name change (surname) on the passport in 2024.
I received confirmation from Home Affairs that they have now refused to change my name because they do not recognize same sex marriages and name changes are not allowed on the passport. Below is the correspondence from them:
"Please note that we have received verification of the status of your passport:
Your passport application was received by DHA on the 12 July 2024
On the 10 August 2024 your application was moved to the Citizenship for verification of SA Citizenship.
Next your application was moved to the Marriage Section to confirm your marital status.
According to the DHA, with regards to same sex civil unions name changes are not permitted, thus all parties concerned will keep their last name. ie: Jason Roelof Saunders will remain Jason Roelof Saunders and not Turner.
Thereafter your passport will be moved for capturing and processing and will take another 6-8 Months."
Is this allowed? I feel that this is some sort of discrimination, as I have many women friends from South Africa who got married and changed their names to match their husbands with no issue. I would not care if it were not for my line of work. I am an airline pilot and am having many issues when travelling to different countries because my passport and green card documents all have mismatched names. It is now directly affecting my job.
The long answer
Thank you for your email asking if Home Affairs can declare that you may not change your surname to your partner’s on your passport because “with regard to same sex civil unions, name changes are not permitted.”
This is most certainly wrong: in South Africa both partners/spouses in a civil union partnership are allowed to choose what surnames they will be known by. Section 13 of the Civil Union Act explicitly gives spouses/partners this choice.
The Civil Union Act does not make any explicit provisions to recognise foreign same-sex unions, but under the common-law definition of marriage, a foreign same-sex marriage is recognised as a marriage in South African law.
“Couples who marry in terms of the Civil Union Act may choose whether their union is registered as a marriage or a civil partnership. In either case, the legal consequences are identical to those of a marriage under the Marriage Act, except for such changes as are required by the context. Any reference to marriage in any law, including the common law, is deemed to include a marriage or civil partnership in terms of the Civil Union Act; similarly, any reference to husband, wife or spouse in any law is deemed to include a reference to a spouse or civil partner in terms of the Civil Union Act.” (Wikipedia).
But the problem is that there are contradictions between Section 26 (1) of the Births and Deaths Registration Act and the Civil Union Act: on the DHA website it states that “Passports are issued in accordance with your names as they appear in the National Population Register (NPR) at the time of your application. Any changes to your names must be applied for, finalised and recorded in the NPR before you submit your passport application.”
It seems that it costs R375 to apply for a change of name to the NPR.
A Rhodes University thesis by LLB student Chris McConnechie notes that section 26(1) of the Births and Deaths Registration Act says that no individual may describe himself by any other name than the one recorded in the NPR without permission of the Director General of Home Affairs – except that women can change their surnames upon marriage without applying for permission. In a marriage as opposed to a civil union, a man cannot change his surname without permission while a woman can; in a civil union both partners are able to change their surnames.
As you know, all discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and against same sex couples is outlawed by Section 9 of the Constitution and by the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act. But given the difficulties, delays and frustrations routinely experienced by people when dealing with Home Affairs, it may be quicker and easier in the short term to apply to the Director General of Home Affairs for permission to change your surname, and then to re-apply for your passport.
You could also ask the following organisations for advice