Top 5 Things to Know about South African Visa Renewals

When is it a good time to start with the renewal ?
Picture this – it’s Monday and in a quiet moment you decide to go through your foreign employees’ documents.

To your shock you discover that one employee’s visa is due for renewal – at the end of the week.

Suddenly, your Monday is a whole lot bluer! You have no idea how you’re going to do this. You don’t even know if it’s still possible to submit a renewal!

Take a deep breath – this does not have to happen to you.
You can avoid any visa renewal shocks and surprises simply by keeping these 5 facts in mind:

1. Did you know applications must be submitted at least 60 days before the expiry date of the visa

South Africa’ Immigration Act requires visa holders to submit renewals at least 60 days before the expiry date of their visa. Visa holders may also submit renewals earlier but no earlier than 6 months prior to a visa’s expiry date.

Our advice? Don’t wait for the 60 days! Submit as early as possible to allow for unforeseen hiccups.

2. Start the groundwork early
The process of renewing a South African visa is the same as applying for a new visa. For this reason, it is advisable to start preparing for a renewal well in advance.

When it comes to work visas specifically, there are often multiple steps that need to be followed before being able to submit the renewal to the authorities. Given the backlog at Home Affairs due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we recommend starting the preparation process 12 months in advance.

3. The visa holder must meet all the requirements again
To apply for a visa extension, the visa holder must be able to meet the requirements of their visa again. This includes any new requirements or changes to requirements that were made by the Department of Home Affairs since the previous application or renewal.

Applicants who can’t meet the requirements of their visa will most likely not get a visa extension.
That does not mean it’s the end of the road! Unsuccessful renewal applicants can get assessed against all of South Africa’s immigration requirements to see if they perhaps qualify for another visa that lets them work in South Africa.

4. Keep critical documentation up to date
Want to save yourself a lot of headaches? Ensure that documentation with expiry dates are always valid. By keeping documents up to date, you’ll see to it that you’re ready to proceed with renewals as soon as it’s necessary.

Police clearances is one example of documentation with an expiry date. These documents are only valid for 6 months from the date of issuance. The passport expiration date is also an important one to keep in mind. It is impossible to apply for a visa with an expired passport.

5. Extensions must be submitted in South Africa
All extensions must be submitted in South Africa, at a VFS application centre. Visa holders can’t submit extensions outside of South Africa.

Need help with South African visa renewals?
Our corporate team can assist you with all types of South African visa renewals. The team will guide you through the requirements and work with you to submit a complete application.

How can we help you , please email us to info@samigration.com whatsapp message me on:
+27 82 373 8415, where are you now? check our website : www.samigration.com

Please rate us by clinking on this links :
Sa Migration Visas
https://g.page/SAMigration?gm

Alternatively , please contact us on :


Whatsapp Tel No : +27 (0) 82 373 8415 - ( Whatsapp messages only, No calls )

Tel No office : +27 (0) 82 373 8415 ( Whatsapp messages only, No calls )
Tel No landline CT : +27 (0) 21 879 5560
Tel No landline JHB : +27 (0) 12 880 1490
Tel No admin : +27 (0) 64 126 3073 – ( Whatsapp calls only – No Messages )
Tel No sales : +27 (0) 74 0366127 - ( Whatsapp calls only – No Messages )

www.samigration.com

How can we help you?
Please email us to info@samigration.com
Whatsapp message us on: +27 82 373 8415

Where are you now?
Check our website : www.samigration.com

Please rate us by clinking on this links :
Sa Migration Visas
https://g.page/SAMigration?gm


Get More Info By Following Our Page: https://www.youtube.com/@samigration

South African Citizenship

• SA Visa
• Citizenship
Citizenship Options
• South African Citizen by Descent
• South African Citizen by Naturalisation:
• Automatic loss of Citizenship
• Resumption of South African citizenship
• Deprivation of Citizenship
• South African Citizen by Naturalisation:
• Automatic loss of Citizenship
• Resumption of South African citizenship
• Acquisition of the citizenship or nationality of another country
South African Citizen by Descent:

Anybody who was born outside of South Africa to a South African citizen. His or her birth has to be registered in line with the births and deaths registration act 51 of 1992.

South African Citizen by Naturalisation:
Permanent Resident holders of 5 or more years can apply for citizenship. Anybody married to a South African citizen qualifies for naturalisation, two years after receiving his or her permanent residence at the time of marriage.

A child under 21 who has permanent residence Visa qualifies for naturalization immediately after the Visa is issued.
Automatic loss of Citizenship.
This occurs when a South African citizen:
Obtains citizenship of another country by a voluntary and formal act, other than marriage, or;
Serves in the armed forces of another country, where he or she is also a citizen, while is at war with South Africa.

Deprivation of Citizenship:
A South African citizen by naturalization can be deprived of his citizenship if;
The certificate of naturalisation was obtained fraudulently or false information was supplied.

He or she holds the citizenship of another country and has, at any time, been sentenced to 12 months imprisonment in any country for an offence that also would have been an offence in South Africa.
www.samigration.com

How can we help you?
Please email us to info@samigration.com
Whatsapp message us on: +27 82 373 8415

Where are you now?
Check our website : www.samigration.com

Please rate us by clinking on this links :
Sa Migration Visas
https://g.page/SAMigration?gm


Get More Info By Following Our Page: https://www.youtube.com/@samigration

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.
www.samigration.com

How can we help you?
Please email us to info@samigration.com
Whatsapp message us on: +27 82 373 8415

Where are you now?
Check our website : www.samigration.com

Please rate us by clinking on this links :
Sa Migration Visas
https://g.page/SAMigration?gm


Get More Info By Following Our Page: https://www.youtube.com/@samigration

The department of home affairs is among the most citizen-facing ministries, with all South Africans having to deal with it at key points in their lives — from birth, death and marriage to passports and IDs.

It is also one historically plagued by corruption, inefficiency and neglect, and a poisoned chalice for any minister. But Leon Schreiber, a DA minister in the GNU, seems almost elated as he outlines his vision for the department to the FM.

Schreiber is passionate about government reform. He and the DA have been at the forefront in the push for the professionalisation of the public service and an end to cadre deployment, the ANC practice of appointing party loyalists above people with expertise and experience.
This campaign, coupled with his five-year stint at Princeton University studying government reform in 28 mostly African and Asian countries, before his return to active politics, primed Schreiber for the job.

It was one incident shortly after his appointment, and the difficulties in resolving it, that showed him how vital it is to get to the root of a problem and not just treat the symptoms.

Last year 95 Libyans were discovered receiving military training in Mpumalanga. Aside from the risk to national security, they were terrorising surrounding communities, which experienced a marked rise in crime including rape and robbery. It was just another bizarre South African story, but for Schreiber it was the first of many fires he had to extinguish.

“You come into an environment where the house is on fire,” he says, “and you are being pulled in a hundred different directions. I can understand how someone, even with good intentions, could spend five years just putting out fires but not getting to the systemic cause of the fires.

“Where is it coming from, and why are systems so vulnerable that these things keep happening? Of course, you have to deal with challenges as they arise and I’ve had my fair share of those. But the most important part is you have to have absolute clarity about where you’re trying to go, and in your diagnosis of the underlying problem.”

In South Africa’s case, he says, the underlying problem — an affliction throughout the government — is failure to take digital transformation seriously. “It is one of the rare opportunities we have to leapfrog and address multiple problems at once.”
The Libyans had handwritten visa documents, “pieces of paper” pasted into their passports, filled out by an official. It was a recipe for mistakes, and for corruption.

This incident, along with other similar ones, bolstered Schreiber’s push for the wholesale digitalisation of home affairs functions, including electronic travel authorisation (ETA) documents for foreigners entering South Africa. As a result of this drive, the department has dismissed scores of officials, “probably more than anyone else this year”, he says.

“So with the ETA, you are going to be able to apply seamlessly online. We’re using machine learning to do all the routine work in the background to check that your passport is authentic, that your selfie matches the biometrics on your passport.
“When you arrive at the immigration desk in South Africa, you look into a camera and you’ve got the visa in your smartphone wallet, and we just confirm that the face of the person who showed up is the same as the one who applied. In addition to that security element, there’s the enormous efficiency gain that goes with this.”

If the visa process is tiresome for tourists and visitors, the experience of home affairs can be absolutely torturous for South Africans, who have no other way of obtaining essential documents such as birth, death and marriage certificates and, crucially, IDs, without which it can be impossible to proceed with life.
The work done to bed down the ETA is now being expanded to these domestic functions. Schreiber is confident the old green ID book will be out of production by the end of the year. The familiar document has been open to manipulation and forgery; Smile ID, Africa’s leading verification agency, says the green ID book is 500% more vulnerable to corruption than the smart ID card.

Digitalisation has already been rolled out at the country’s borders. Hi-tech drones have been deployed and the ETA is set to be coupled with automated entry and exit. But with the Border Management Authority (BMA) still in its infancy, illegal immigration remains a key challenge and impossible to quantify. “The problem is that it’s not a population that can be measured. By definition, these people are undocumented.”

Schreiber says the space is fraught with deep problems involving departments across the government, including the police, but as the process to secure citizen and travel documents picks up speed, opportunities for those entering and staying in the country illegally will become more limited.
It is a journey, not a destination, he says. The BMA is working under immense strain and with few resources. “I really commend people there, who are working under extremely difficult circumstances. They are the most underfunded entity in the state.”

Schreiber has a clear five-year plan, which he is confident will revolutionise home affairs.
The danger, one outside his control, is that the GNU falls apart. If it does, all the positive work could be undone.

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 "Skills 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 applicant’s skills, qualifications and working experience.

Furthermore, such applicant’s 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.
www.samigration.com

How can we help you?
Please email us to info@samigration.com
Whatsapp message us on: +27 82 373 8415

Where are you now?
Check our website : www.samigration.com

Please rate us by clinking on this links :
Sa Migration Visas
https://g.page/SAMigration?gm


Get More Info By Following Our Page: https://www.youtube.com/@samigration