Work visa for South Africa,

[Saartjie]

Originally Posted by shadeslayer

Saartjie, thank you very much for you time and effort, its such a relief to be able to talk to someone about this these days

Any time! Have been through all of this myself so I know what it's like and I am happy to help with anything that I can. Good luck and let me know if you have any more questions.

[shadeslayer]

Originally Posted by Saartjie

Any time! Have been through all of this myself so I know what it's like and I am happy to help with anything that I can. Good luck and let me know if you have any more questions.

Thank you, will do so!

[EastLondon]

Saartjie, which immigration services did you use?

[Saartjie]

Originally Posted by EastLondon

Saartjie, which immigration services did you use?

Hi there, I used an immigration lawyer firm in CT called Eisenberg and Associates. Can warmly recommend, they are brilliant.

[EastLondon]

Thank you!

What do you think: if someone is working in SA for 4 years and then due to the Home Affairs delays cant get new work permit on right time will it be good enough reason NOT to issue a permanent residence?! In other words if continuity of work permits will be interrupted by the Home Affairs fault wont they issue permanent residence then later? What do you think?

[Saartjie]

Originally Posted by EastLondon

Thank you!

What do you think: if someone is working in SA for 4 years and then due to the Home Affairs delays cant get new work permit on right time will it be good enough reason NOT to issue a permanent residence?! In other words if continuity of work permits will be interrupted by the Home Affairs fault wont they issue permanent residence then later? What do you think?

To be honest, I am not sure. Logically it does not sound like a good enough reason not to issue a PR at a later stage, HOWEVER, this is South Africa and logic usually does not have a role to play. Bureaucracy and inefficiency is your biggest enemy. My advise would be that you seek proper legal advise from an immigration lawyer (not an immigration company) who knows the ins and outs of SA Immigration law. You want to make sure you know what you are entitled to before starting any arguments with HA.

[stanley308]

Originally Posted by shadeslayer

Hi All, I have been offered a position in Telecom sector in South Africa. But my company (a big multinational) has told me that I have to arrange the visa myself. The HR guy said that due to some restrictions from government, they are unable to apply for work visas, so I have to apply it on my own.

1. Though I guess I dont have much space to push them, but should I totally refuse and ask my company to apply for the visa? Point is, is it too difficult to get a work visa these days on your own? From what I have gathered from different threads here, it seems people have to wait for ages to get a half decent response (home office losing the applications etc )

2. I have read the requirements for visa application, getting attestation from SAQA and all that. I'd be grateful if anyone here could give me some tips or share their experience in this regard (esp. someone from Pakistan/India/South Asia)

Many thanks!

Cheers

hello,friend, got work permit of SA already?

welcome to be friends in SA :-)

[shadeslayer]

Hi everyone, I finally got the Quota Work Permit and am in SA (Joburg) now. I want to thank everyone here for the informative posts and feedback, esp Saartjie and Johanna.

I am giving a summary of what I did to get here, it might be helpful to people starting/going through the same process, esp Pakistanis.

1. First thing to note is that I have a quota work permit. For detailed requirements you should visit SA embassy in your country. In Pakistan SA visa work is handled by Visatronix (subsidiary of TCS). In ISB, there office is in Aabpaara (behind MCB bank).
2. They'll give you a form along with the list of requirements. Medical report (get it from some district government hospital, its easy and fee is nominal). Experience letters, police character certificate, bank statement (showing that you have enough money to survive atleast 3 months in SA). Proof of membership with Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC) if you are an engineer, dont know about doctors or other professionals. And some other documents.
3. They also need and evaluation certificate from South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA). Just fill out the form on SAQA website, transfer the money from any Pakistani bank to SAQA account in SA. And courier this receipt, HEC and Foreign Office attested COPIES of your degree and transcript along with the application form ofcrs to SAQA. Courier will cost you around 6~7k. And SAQA will get it in 3 working days and they'll send you an sloppy written email to confirm. I applied for the urgent 10 days scheme which cost me more. SAQA did complete the process from their end within 10 days or so, but they send back the certificate via Air mail (read South African government post office to Pakistan Post) and it more than a month!!! Anyways I got the tracking number from SAQA (sent an email asking for it) and kept track of the parcel on South African Post Office (SAPO) site and later on Pakistan Post tracking site.

4. Now go to some travel agent and get a temporary reservation of flight from Pak to SA. DO NOT CONFIRM THE TICKET. It is free of charge in Pak, just make a temp booking. Congrats now your documents are ready. Fill the form and go to visatronix office. They will check the documents, submit them and you'll get a receipt. Don't loose it!

5. After about 30 working days (meaning 1.5 months) I got a call from visatronix to come and collect a letter. SA embassy asked me to submit PKR 50k in their account in Standard Chartered Bank, ISB as a repatriation guarantee. Don't worry its all legit. Read about it on internet. I submitted the money and couriered the receipt to SA embassy directly.

6. Now after another 3~4 days I got a call from visatronix to come and collect my passport along with the visa. They returned all my original documents except the SAQA and police character certificate. I asked them to return these too, they said they will return the SAQA but not the police certificate. ITS VERY IMPORTANT get back the SAQA certificate! You'll need it in SA.

7. Take ALL your documents along with you to SA. SAQA, degrees, transcripts etc EVERYTHING. You'll need it here.

8. So assuming you are in SA now. Now you have to find a job and report to Dept of Home Affairs (DHA) within 90days.

9. Assuming you have a job now, so go to DHA office with these documents,
a. SAQA
b. Degrees/transcripts
c. Employment letter and full contract listing your job role and responsibilities. Its very important.
d. Passport/visa copies.
e. proof of registration with some professional body in SA. If you are an engineer, you'll have to join Engineering Council of SA (ECSA)**.
f. You fill up the form* and submit these documents. They'll give you a receipt and tell you to come back after 30 days. And you are done.

*About the form, it has one section that is to be filled by your company (HR or manager). So either try to take some HR guy with you (which I did) or first go and get the form and then go again to submit it.

** ECSA normally takes 6~8 weeks to complete the registration process. Heres the process, if your degree is from Pakistan, you'll first have to go through Foreign Qualification Assessment (no, they don't accept SAQA thingy). So fill out the form*** and take your attested degree/transcripts and your project report hard copy to ECSA office. Yes you read it right, your final year project report. Find it and print it. After you submit the fee (1035 Rands) in their bank account, take the receipt and above documents to ECSA office and they'll give you a letter. This letter will work for DHA. Its states that Mr. X has applied for registration with us which will take 6~8 weeks. Please entertain him at the DHA for this quota work permit etc. It will work.

***This ECSA form from the website says that they need a letter directly from your uni in Pak saying that this guy studied here etc etc. But when I went to ECSA offices, they told me they DONT need it. So don't worry.


P.S. In all of above, where ever I have mentioned attested, and I am talking about something in SA it means that you have go and get it attested from police station. Just go to some police station along with the ORIGINAL and copies. They'll attest it free of charge.

I'll keep updating this thread.

[shadeslayer]

Well now that I read it, its a bit confusing! If anyone wants some clarification, just post a message here and I'll respond.

[shadeslayer]

Originally Posted by stanley308

hello,friend, got work permit of SA already?

welcome to be friends in SA :-)

Hi, yes I am in SA now! Thanks, I will PM you my contact details.