Immigrate to South Africa successfully with Cape Immigration Compass!

The key to immigrating to South Africa is to prepare yourself properly before initiating your relocation. Whether you require a work permit, business permit, permanent residence permit, study permit, family re-unification permit or retired persons permit, you need to comply with the requirements set out in the immigration legislation.

On our page 'Types of Permits' we describe the various requirements for the permits in more detail.

If it is your intention to relocate to South Africa for at least 5 years or on a permanent basis, you need to make sure that you qualify for a permanent residence permit. In other words, do you meet the requirements?

In general the following categories of permits will enable you to apply for permanent residence:Retired Person's Permit; General Work Permit; Exceptional Skills Work Permit; Spouse Permit; Relative's Permit and Own Business Permit. Please revert to our page Types of Permits to verify whether you meet the requirements for permanent residence based on these permits.

The documents required for ALL permanent residence permits are the following: Valid Passport, Application Form, 2 Passport Photos, Unabridged Birth Certificate, Proof of Spousal Relationship or Marriage Certificate, Divorce Decree where applicable, Medical Certificate, Radiological Certificate, Police Clearance Certificate and your Temporary Residence Certificate if you are already in South Africa.

In addition to these documents which are required for all permanent residence permits, specific documents will also be required, based on the category you qualify in. For example, if you apply for permanent residence based on the fact that you are a retired person you will need the above mentioned documents PLUS proof of a non irrevoable retirement annuity of at R20 000 per month or prescribed assets providing you with an income of R20 000 per month. For example, if you apply for permanent residence on the basis of being married to or in a spousal relationship with a South African citizen you will require the above mentioned documents PLUS proof that the relationship has been in existence for a period of at least 5 years.  Please contact us for more details in respect of these documents.

The Department of Home Affairs is mandated in terms of Regulation 33(7) to issue permanent residence permits 30 days after receiving a complete application. Clearly this time frame is never met. Our recently submitted applications have been finalized in a record average time of 3 months. However, applications which are older are taking longer. In general we advise our clients that permanent residence permits will be finalized within 2 years of submission.

The following permits will not entitle you to apply for permanent residence:Visitors Permit; Intra Company Work Permit; Quota Work Permit; Medical Treatment Permit, Study Permit.

Temporary Residence permits in general take 4 to 6 weeks to finalize from the date of submission. Extensions of Visitors Permits take an average of 10 days from submission to finalization.

If you are living abroad, we can submit your application to the relevant authority in the country in which you are residing. Naturally if you are in South Africa, we will submit and process your application in the region in which you will be living.

You may also be entitled to South African citizenship. We can verify this all for you.

Please contact us so that we can provide you with a free assesment in respect of the permit you would best qualify for and the cheapest and fastet route to get you the appropriate permit to live in South Africa.