A business visa may be issued by the Department of Home Affairs to a foreigner intending to establish or invest in a business in South Africa in which he or she may be employed, and to members of such foreigners’ immediate family providing that certain requirements have been met.

The Act calls for investment of R5,0 million in a business and you need to make sure you employ 60% South African citizens or permanent residents to get both a temporary and permanent business visa, you can get these visas with less capital investment - sometimes for as low as R600,000 investment using our expert team at SA Migration.

Many businesses do not require a capital investment as large as R5 million and in certain cases, you are allowed to reduce this amount and commit to a smaller investment if your business falls within the certain industries. The following businesses to be in the national interest, and therefore qualifying for reduction or waiver of the capitalisation requirements as determined to be in the national interest in relation to a Business Visa: Many of these business owners do not have the required investment amounts. If this is the case and the business falls in line with one of the following industries, a capital waiver can be requested. This would mean a reduction in the required investment amount.

The industries are:

(a) Agro-processing

• Fisheries and aquaculture i.e. freshwater aquaculture and marine culture
• Food processing in the milling and baking industries
• Beverages viz. fruit juices and the local beneficiation, packaging and export of indigenous teas
• High value natural fibres viz., organic cotton and downstream mohair production
• High value organic food for the local and export market
• Biofuels production viz. bioethanol and biogas
• oils: tea extracts, including buchu, honeybush: and other oil derivatives (avocado, amarula etc.)
• Diversification / beneficiation of biomass sources i.e. sugar, maize

(b) Business Process Outsourcing and IT Enabled Services

• Call centers
• Back Office Processing
• Shared Corporate Services
• Enterprise solutions e.g. fleet management and asset management
• Legal process outsourcing

(c) Capital / Transport equipment, metals and electrical machinery and apparatus

• Basic iron and steel
• Basic precious and non-ferrous metals
• Casting of metals
• Other fabricated metal products: metalwork service activities
• General purpose machinery
• Tooling manufacturing
• Foundries
• White goods and associated components
• Electric motors, generators and transformers
• Electricity distribution and control apparatus
• Insulated wire and cable
• Accumulators, primary cells and primary batteries

(d) Electro Technical

• Advanced telecommunications
• Software development
• Software and mobile applications
• Smart metering
• Embedded software
• Radio frequency identifications
• Digital TV and Set Top Boxes due to migration to full digital television
• Process control, measurement and instrumentation
• Security and monitoring solutions
• Financial software
• Manufacturing sensors

(e) Textile, Clothing and Leather

• Spinning, weaving and finishing of textiles
• Knitted and crocheted fabrics and articles
• Wearing apparel except fur apparel
• Dressing and dying of fur
• Leather skins and hides beneficiation

(f) Consumer goods

• White goods and associated components

(g) Boatbuilding

• Boatbuilding and associated services industry
• Engines and engine systems
• Marine equipment and accessories

(h) Pulp, paper and Furniture

• Manufacture of paper products: publishing, printing and reproduction
• Manufacture of articles of straw and plaiting materials
• Paper and paper products and furniture
• Manufacture of wood and products of wood and cork

(i) Automotives and Components

• engines, radiators, filters and components thereof
• air conditioners / climate control systems
• alarms and Tracking devices
• axles, transmission shafts
• body parts and panels
• catalytic converters, silencers and exhaust systems and components
• wiring harnesses, instrument panels vehicle interiors, electronic drive train components,
• lighting equipment
• seats and parts thereof, seatbelts, leather covers
• suspension and shock absorbers, springs and parts thereof
• steering wheels, columns and boxes
• ignition, starting equipment, gauges and instrument parts

(J) Green Economy Industries

(jj) Power generation:

• Nuclear Build Programmer i.e. joint ventures, consortiums and the establishment of new companies to grow South Africa's nuclear manufacturing capability and nuclear supply industry to supply into the nuclear build programme
• Independent power generation, energy infrastructure and alternative energy

(jjj) Renewable Energy:

• Onshore wind power - manufacture of turbines/blades
• Solar PV and Concentrated Solar Power manufacture/assembly
• Biomass
• Small hydro
• Lowering greenhouse gas emissions from landfill sites
• Energy efficiency and energy saving industries
• Solar water heaters
• Waste Management and Recycling
• Reducing landfill

(k) Advanced Manufacturing

• Nano-materials
• High performance materials based on natural resources (advanced bio-composites
• Advanced materials, polymers and composites
• Medical devices, diagnostics and composites
• Space e.g. satellite manufacturers etc. and astronomy e.g. SKA, telescopes, dishes etc.
• Composites (intelligent textiles used in medical, building and construction industries)
• Continuous fibre reinforced thermoform composites
• Biochemical and biologics for applications in agriculture, industry and health/medical sectors
• Electricity demand Site Management Solutions to improve electricity efficiency usage
• Lasers and laser-based additive manufacturing various applications
• Advanced Robotics Mobile Intelligent Autonomous Systems
• Applications in the mining industry, data collection and analysis
• Bio - manufacturing - Biochemical and biologics for applications in agriculture, industry and health/medical.
• Fuel cells and Technology

(l) Tourism infrastructure

• Accommodation - hotels, boutique hotels, lodges and resorts
• urban integrated tourism/ entertainment precincts
• adventure, - eco-, sport-, conference- and cultural tourism
• infrastructure developments
• leisure complexes and world class golf courses
• harbour and waterfront developments
• trans frontier conservations areas
• Tourism transport - aviation, rail, cruise liners etc.
• green building and green technologies for tourism
• attractions and activity - based tourism.
• museums and heritage

(m) Chemicals, plastic fabrication and pharmaceuticals

• basic chemicals
• water treatment chemical products
• man-made fibres
• plastic products: polypropylene and polyvinculchloride
• medical (drips and syringes), manufacture of active pharmaceutical ingredient
• (APIs) for key anti-retrovirals (ARVs)
• Manufacture of reagents for AIDS/HIV diagnostics
• Production of vaccines and biological medicines

(n) Creative and Design Industry

• Film studios, treaty film co-production ventures, distribution infrastructure
• Servicing of foreign productions
• Production of film and documentaries, commercials, stills photography and
• Multi-media
• Post-production
• Design
• Jewellery manufacturing and design
• Fashion design

(o) Oil and Gas

• Maintenance ship and rig repair
• Fabrication - equipment and specialised components
• Specialised services - training and accreditation
• Specialised services - non-descriptive testing, inspection services, SHEQ services
• Exploration - technical services: seismic surveys, logging, environmental impact assessments, etc.
• Exploration - offshore
• Exploration - onshore shale gas
• Exploration - onshore coal bed methane and underground coal gasification
• Infrastructure - refineries (Oil and GTL)
• Infrastructure - terminals LPG/LNG import, storage and distribution
• Infrastructure - ports and associated infrastructure
• Infrastructure - storage
• Logistics - pipeline

(p) Mineral beneficiation

• Downstream processing and value addition

(q) Infrastructure Development

(r) ICT

• Geoamatics and Digital media
• Wireless and Telecom
• Electronics
• IT
• Software Development
• Advanced programming

List of undesirable Business in South Africa;

• Businesses that import second hand motor vehicles into the Republic of South Africa for the purpose of exporting to other markets outside the Republic of South Africa
• The exotic entertainment industry
• Security Industry

Our team of professionals at SA Migration International will assist you and help you to obtain your business visa for you.

South Africa is going through a very exciting stage at the moment and there is lots of opportunity to be involved in this emerging economy and the government welcomes anyone wishing to invest and create employment. Especially for small business owners, the markets are extremely lucrative and the government welcomes anyone who wants to invest.