Work endorsement - working for US co. in SA, help!

Lisalouise · #1 (**permalink**) 7th June 2012, 08:21 PM

Hi there,
Please could someone give me some info, or ANY info!! My husband is brazilian and is living here- he was on a work visa but left his job in Feb to work from home for an american company. His visa expired on 21 May so he's now illegal. We applied for his PR in feb as we have a baby and didnt think we needed to apply for another spousal visa. To cut a long story short, we are going to go to swaziland in a few days so that he can come back into the country legally on a 90 day visit visa and then we'll apply for a spousal visa. Does anyone know if he needs a work endorsement if the company he is working for isnt based in South Africa? He is getting paid here into his SA bank account though. Pleaseeeeee help with any info, HA is driving me nuts!!!

Johanna · #2 (**permalink**) 8th June 2012, 08:14 AM

I am not sure which permit your husband will qualify for.

Have a look at the different permits :

South African Temporary Residence Permit

Saartjie · #3 (**permalink**) 8th June 2012, 09:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lisalouise

Hi there,
Please could someone give me some info, or ANY info!! My husband is brazilian and is living here- he was on a work visa but left his job in Feb to work from home for an american company. His visa expired on 21 May so he's now illegal. We applied for his PR in feb as we have a baby and didnt think we needed to apply for another spousal visa. To cut a long story short, we are going to go to swaziland in a few days so that he can come back into the country legally on a 90 day visit visa and then we'll apply for a spousal visa. Does anyone know if he needs a work endorsement if the company he is working for isnt based in South Africa? He is getting paid here into his SA bank account though. Pleaseeeeee help with any info, HA is driving me nuts!!!

Hi there, I am not sure but I think he would need a work endorsement. The reason that I say that is that I know people who work for English law firms here in Joburg. They all need some sort of work permit to be able to work here.

I really think that you should go and apply for a Spousal TR at HA now. You are not that late and if you can provide a reasonable explanation why you are late then they should accept that. I do not think it is a good idea to leave the country to try to get 90 days tourist visa. I say this because they will see when you cross the border into Swaziland that his visa has expired and that he is an over-stayer which could cause a lot of trouble for your husband and also it is not always that you get your 90 days, sometimes you need to have been out of the country for a certain amount of time to get the new tourist visa.

These are just my suggestions and thoughts but maybe someone else knows more about this than I do.

zebracrossing · #4 (**permalink**) 10th June 2012, 06:44 PM

A friend of mine was in a similar situation. I remember the following he said:
- a visitor's visa is not legal if you work
- the application for PR takes about 1 year
- he could not go to Swaziland to get a visitor's visa when reentering SA, but had to travel to Mauritius

Lisalouise · #5 (**permalink**) 14th June 2012, 07:19 AM

Hi guys

Thanks for the advice

We went through the border and they were super friendly and just said he had over stayed but didnt fine us or anything. On the way back into SA from Swaziland the guy gave him a 30 day visitors visa, and when we saw that my hubby went back in and asked for a longer one and he gave him 60 days

I think we were pretty lucky!!!

I need to put the forms together for the spousal visa with work endorsement now and I was wondering if anyone had a template or an example of a work offer for the work endorsement? I need to write it for my husbands boss as he is in the USA and he will sign. Any ideas? I know how hectic HA can be so I just want to make sure we have all or t's crossed and i's dotted

Also, does anyone have a template for the letter that one gets home affairs to sign stating that its ok for him to remain in SA once his visitors visa expires because he's applied for his spousal visa?
THANKS SO MUCH!!!!

Saartjie · #6 (**permalink**) 14th June 2012, 09:10 AM