# SA Advice for Brit



## LL1975 (Nov 19, 2012)

Hi, I'm a British guy in my late 30s, married to a South African girl. Unfortunately her spouse visa to the UK was recently declined and whilst we are appealing the decision through an immigration lawyer, we are also considering having me move to South Africa should her appeal be unsuccessful. So some questions:

1. How easy/difficult is it for a UK spouse to gain the right to live and work in SA? Does it have the same kind of immigration rules as the UK?

2. Where in South Africa would be best to live? My priorities are personal safety and being able to find work (I'm an experienced university administrator)?

My wife currently lives in Johannesburg, but she doesn't consider that very suitable for me in terms of safety, although I appreciate that crime is an issue all over the country. She originally comes from Durban, but if I came over I think she would prefer us to relocate to Cape Town.

Anyone on here successfully relocated from the UK to South Africa in recent years?


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## Saartjie (Mar 1, 2010)

LL1975 said:


> Hi, I'm a British guy in my late 30s, married to a South African girl. Unfortunately her spouse visa to the UK was recently declined and whilst we are appealing the decision through an immigration lawyer, we are also considering having me move to South Africa should her appeal be unsuccessful. So some questions:
> 
> 1. How easy/difficult is it for a UK spouse to gain the right to live and work in SA? Does it have the same kind of immigration rules as the UK?
> 
> ...


Hi there,

In theory, as a spouse of a SA citizen you can gain the right to live and work in SA very easy. However, the application process is very long and tiresome. The type of permit you would apply for depends upon how long you have been together and how long you have been married. For Permanent Residency you need to have been in a 'spousal relationship' for a minimum of 5 years. For Spousal Temporary Residency you will need to have been married for a minimum of 2 years (please note that you can only apply for a Spousal TR within SA, it is not possible to do this from an embassy abroad, have no idea why). As Permanent Residency applications currently take up to two years to be finalised, most people apply for TR and PR at the same time. TR is usually issued for a two year period which in theory means that your PR should be finalised before your TR expires, although this is absolutely not always the case. If your TR expires you can renew this until your PR is granted.

The 'problem' with a Spousal TR permit is that it does not allow you to work, it must first be endorsed for work. The process is idiotic in that you must first find a job, then apply to get your TR permit endorsed to work for that specific company. This creates several major problems for you:-

1. When you apply for positions you do not have a work permit which means a lot of companies do not even allow you to apply.

2. If you do managed to get a job, the application to get your permit endorsed can take a very long time (mine took 10 months). This will leave you with either losing the job offer as companies generally are not prepared to wait for that long or (if the company allows it) you are forced to work illegally until the endorsement is granted.

3. The endorsement is job specific so if you want to change jobs, you must make a new application for a new endorsement which as stated above can take a very long time.

With a PR you do not have the above problems but as previously stated, it takes a very long time to get this. I am still waiting for mine and I applied 30 November 2011.

As to where you should live, anywhere in SA is good. All places have good and bad areas. Find something that appeals to you. We relocated from the UK in 2010.We live in Joburg and love it. Have not felt less safe here than I did living in London for 12 years.

Hope the above helps but if you have any questions, let me know.


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## LL1975 (Nov 19, 2012)

Sounds a mess of a system - but am not surprised given the hoops my wife and I had to jump through to get married in South Africa. We're only married since the summer, so it looks like I won't be allowed to work in SA any time soon, which isn't ideal - so it looks like we may be going down the route of moving to the European Union in order to be together. Which is a pity because the water isn't so warm in Ireland...

My wife was carjacked in Jo'burg at the start of the year, so that is affecting her judgement of safety.


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## Saartjie (Mar 1, 2010)

LL1975 said:


> Sounds a mess of a system - but am not surprised given the hoops my wife and I had to jump through to get married in South Africa. We're only married since the summer, so it looks like I won't be allowed to work in SA any time soon, which isn't ideal - so it looks like we may be going down the route of moving to the European Union in order to be together. Which is a pity because the water isn't so warm in Ireland...
> 
> My wife was carjacked in Jo'burg at the start of the year, so that is affecting her judgement of safety.


Its more about how long you have actually been together. The PR for example does not require you to have been married for 5 years, proof of a spousal relationship (eg living together, shared economy, kids, etc etc). I think the same would go for Spousal TR. Otherwise a Life Partner TR might work. You should be able to sort something out however if you do decide to give it a go then I would strongly suggest that you use an immigration lawyer. It will assist you greatly (even if it costs a bit) and will ensure that you apply for the correct permit etc.

People are subjected to crime all over the country so this should not be decisive factor. Saying that, most people chose Joburg for two reasons, there are more jobs and the jobs generally pays better than anywhere else in the country. If I had a choice I would most certainly love to relocate to Cape Town however the salaries offered to us there were far less than in Joburg which is why we decided to start of here. Having been here for two years now, I have no complaints so far.


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## LL1975 (Nov 19, 2012)

Thanks Saartjie, although my wife and I have been a couple for almost nine years now, we haven't been in what could legally be termed a 'spousal relationship' other than being legally married since June this year as we haven't yet been able to live together in a spousal relationship because of the immigration constraints of our respective countries and have thus conducted our relationship long distance. Sometimes things just aren't geared up for newly-weds.

To be honest, I wouldn't mind South Africa as somewhere to live, although my wife is concerned I might get a bit of cabin fever from being boxed up a lot of the time (I come from a remote part of the Scottish Highlands originally - and am used to roaming free at any given time of day or night, and am not that used to doing things like locking doors and stuff!)


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## Greytop (Nov 5, 2011)

In all honesty after jumping through all those hoops and obtaining a work permit, if you moved to the Cape (which is very pleasant and relatively crime free) you would have very little chance of getting a job if you are a white male anyway, especially in the public sector.


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## LL1975 (Nov 19, 2012)

Cheers - quite a negative outlook for a potential expat to South Africa unfortunately if you have to go through a million hoops only to have no or little prospect of getting employment after all that. 

It'll have to be fingers crossed for my wife's spousal appeal then, or a move to the EU.


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