# Temporary/permanent Visa with work endorsement



## kcaden (Apr 15, 2013)

Hi 

I wanted to share my experience regarding my Home affairs visa application and hopefully assist anybody who is in the same situation as me. I relocated to Johannesburg October 2013 with my wife (South African) citizen and with my daughter (Dual Irish & SA citizenship). My daughter qualifies for SA residency as she is the child of a South African citizen and I am entitled to permanent residency through her as I am the father of a south African citizen. I could also have got permanent residency as I am married to a south African citizen however you must be married for 5 years before applying for this.

My story: I was reluctant to move to south Africa due the visa process which I think is fair to say is a shambles. My main concern was the fact that i would have to wait up to 3 years for my permanent residency and up to 3 months for my temporary visa and then if there was a slim chance an employer would give me a job i would then have to wait up to another 3 months while i get an endorsement added to my tempoary visa. Realistcly this would limit my job prospects and ability to earn while in south africa. From speaking to recruiters they will not even put your cv forward until you have a working permit secured. In real terms I would was looking at best 6 months to get a job and that was if I got a lucky break as no employer is going to offer me a job and then wait up to 2/3 months for an endorsement.

After much research (on this forum) and other information sources I established that I was legally entitled and constitutionally entitled to work and reside in south Africa and support my wife and child who are south African citizens as I am the HUSBAND of a south African citizen. 

My advice when carrying out this process is get a good lawyer. I used a lawyer in cape town and i found them extremely professional and good to deal with. The cost of employing a lawyer is around 1,500 euros but im my opinion worth every penny. The reason for using a lawyer is that the other immigration agencies are good at collating preparing your application and following it up but not very good when it comes to the legal side. The lawyer I used has been successful in taking home affairs to court on numerous occasions and have won many cases around lost documents/ backlogs and around the time it takes to issue visas. The most famous case they won against the department of home affairs was for the unfair waiting time in issuing temporary visas and they successfully won a case that states that a person is legally entitled to reside in south Arica within 30 days of submitting the application to home affairs if there is no lawful reason to reject the permit application even if the permit takes home affairs 3 months or more to issue. They also provided me with a legal letter to confirm this, which assisted me in obtaining a job. 
They also advised me that I could apply for a spousal temporary visa with a work endosement without them having to apply for a further endorsement if and when i find a job. The work endorsement is for a specific field which is attached to my temporary permit.
As a result of the above, the process for getting settled and finding a job was a lot easier. I could after 30 days seek employment as a person who has a valid work permit even though I didn't. Instead of having my permit which was pending i attended interviews armed with a legal letter setting out my application terms and the fact that in the lawyers legal opinion there would be no legal reason why my application would be rejected and that I was legally and constitutionally entitled to work and also referred to the legal case they had won confirming this. The letter was only issued after 30 days by the lawyer and I used this while I was awaiting home affairs to process my temporary visa permit with a work authorsation attached. 
With this letter I was successful in securing a job. There were some additional hoops to get through from a HR perspective but one phone call to my lawyer to confirm the letter and details surrounding my permit aaplication and they were put at ease. There biggest concern was that they may be breaking the law and that I may need to get a work endorsent. The lawyer was happy to put them at ease and also provided them with a legal letter to confirm all was in order.

As outlined above in my opinion it is best to get a lawyer when going through this process. Yes you can do it all yourself but it's money we'll spent in my opinion as half the fee is held in a trust account that they only draw down once they receive a lawful outcome for an application, so it is in their best interest to follow up and get the visa issued and to deal with home affairs. 

I also made my permanent residency application which was very straight forward, I collated all the info sent it to the lawyers for checking and then arranged a date and time to come to cape town to submit the application (im living in jhb). The reason I went to cape town and not to Johannesburg home affairs is that you need an appointment in Johannesburg which can take months to even get a slot where as in capetown you can walk in without an appointment. On arriving in cape town home affairs I was met by a legal clerk who was queuing on my behalf since they opened. I got there at 10.00 am let the clerk submit the papers and do the talking, all I had to do was give my fingerprints, there's no interview involved the application process is the interview. The only reason I had to even be there was to do my fingerprints. The application took 15 mins and was very pain free. I'm currently waiting for that to be issued but in the meantime i have my 3 year temporary visa with a work endorsement attached and hopefully I will have the permanent visa issued before those 3 years are up. 

Again there are some points to be aware of when doing this process 

1) as a husband of a south African citizen you are legally and constitutionally entitled to work and reside in south Africa and support your family while in south Africa
2) as a husband/ spouse of a south African citizen you can apply for a temporary visa with a work endorsement attached within a specific field of work. You do not have to wait until you get offered a job and then get an endorsement it can be done together.
3) legally you can reside in south Africa 30 days after submitting your application to home affairs, you should not be prejudiced in finding work or living here by the fact that home affairs are incompetent in issuing permits.
4) my advice is get a lawyer especially if you will be trying to find work when you get over here. It is very important that you have somebody looking after your affairs when things go wrong with home affairs eg if you don't receive a tracking number or if they loose your application or as in my case you need them to provide you with a legal letter for a potential employer or someone else. They also collate submit and follow up with home affairs on your application and you never need to step foot inside home affairs except for your permanent residency application in order to do your fingerprints, but again this process is fine.

Apologies if this is a long winded and detailed post but when I was doing my research the more info and personal encounters available the better for me, so as you are aware of what's ahead and wat can be done.

As of now we relocated out in October I started working on December 8th and have just received my temporary visa today. I am extremely relieved as now I can relax and wait for the permanent residency to be issued within the 3 years, I can work in any job within a specific field without the threat of having to get a work endorsement specific to a role and now I can start enjoying the finer qualities that this amazing country has to offer without having the visa saga weighing on my mind.

Good luck to you in this process if you require any further clarity or have any questions I will try answer as best I can. 

Thanks 

Kevin


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## hopeful1986 (Feb 5, 2014)

hi! this is quite detailed! thanks! although, i am not married to a south african citizen (although my boyfriend and i are having a life partnership notarized, which may help with PR).

i thought they required your spouse to be a big part of your applications (present for submission, interviewed, submit affidavits etc)

also, 1, 500 euros in Rands is an incredibly large amount. i take it the lawyers expect the full amount up front of course. its understandable, but is a huge barrier


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## kcaden (Apr 15, 2013)

Hi 

I am not sure of the circumstances for a life partner application, you will need to get that clarified and establish from a legal stand point your consitutional rights to live/work in south africa as a life partner.

My wife and child had to accompany me to HA, there is NO interview, the submission of the papers/forms and fingerprinting is the interview. Depending on what mood the HA clerk is in he/she may want to speak to or see your partner, in my case he didnt. This in my view was because my lawyer was in attendance when submitting the papers the clerk wasnt interested in seeing my wife or child as he knows that the lawyer must have all the documents in place before they will submit the application for a client, so the clerk relies on the lawyer doing their job rather than he/she having to check every single document is there. The clerk ticks a boxes on a sheet of paper to say he/she has seen passport/birth cert/etc/etc required for making the permanent residency application. This form then gets send to Pretoria for processing based on what the HA clerk has seen and processed on the day you make the application. 

Yes the fee is a lot and must be paid upfront. Half is used to cover costs and the other half is only paid from a trust account once you receive a lawful outcome to your application, so it is in their interest to get to that stage in order to get paid. As mentioned in my post it is worth the charge just so you dont have to deal with the admin and hastle.


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## shumifan49 (Sep 18, 2013)

Can this be promoted to a sticky?


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## RoxanneA (Feb 10, 2014)

Could you please send me the name of the lawyer you used. My husband and I have just moved to SA from India and are in a similar situation.
Thanks!


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## LegalMan (Dec 26, 2012)

Thank you for the long post with detail - always interesting!


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## RoxanneA (Feb 10, 2014)

Hi there
If anyone can help me I would really appreciate it. My husband and I recently moved to SA from India (I am South African and he is Indian) and need to get a work endorsement on his temporary residence permit. Anyone who has had any success with this using an immigration lawyer, could you please give me the name of the lawyer you used.
Thank you!
Roxanne


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## SoldOutForChrist (Sep 16, 2015)

*the lawers details please*

Hi kcaden,
Thank you for your very informative post.
Could you kindly either mail me or post the contact information of the lawyer that you used here on the forum?
Actually I came across your post whilst searching on the forum for any lawyer's firm details which others have used.
I am on a TRP Spousal Visa, in need of work-endorsement now.
Prepared to pay the +/-20k.


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## lullu (Jan 18, 2016)

good morning
omg....that all i can say,i am so happy that you have everything sorted out and this has made me feel alot at ease.
my Fiance and i are getting married in April he is portuguese,we will be starting the same procedure. we are stressed at everything we have been reading on the HA website. at the moment he works in france and i live in cape town. seems like i need to do my sourcing on a good lawyer. 
how soon before we get marrid would you suggest we start getting the ball rolling on our paperwork,i know he has to have police clearance from each country he has lived. does the lawyer help with this? he has lived in 3 different countries. 
thanking you in advance
Lullu


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## lullu (Jan 18, 2016)

i would also like that lawyers details please


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## yojimbo (Aug 3, 2014)

Please let me know a your lawyers contact detail please. Same issues. Regards.


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## Dectempo (May 5, 2016)

dear Kevin,

From one Irish man to another, in the same situation as you were, please send me the details of your lawyer if you get a chance. 

D.


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## jonathan_sil (Jun 22, 2016)

Dear Dectempo - did you get that lawyer's number? and do you know whether if you are married to an SAC you simply have a legal right to work here?


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## LegalMan (Dec 26, 2012)

jonathan_sil said:


> Dear Dectempo - did you get that lawyer's number? and do you know whether if you are married to an SAC you simply have a legal right to work here?


Yes, you have a legal right to work, which is why you only need a signed job offer and do not need to prove that the company could not reasonably find a South African to do the work.


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## Mommy Mae (Nov 10, 2016)

Yes, you have a legal right to work, which is why you only need a signed job offer and do not need to prove that the company could not reasonably find a South African to do the work.[/QUOTE]

Hi LegalMan,

I just applied for this and prp spousal been married 5 yrs. in my trp, I sent a contract that I signed years ago. So technically I was working without proper visa and I only applied change condition 28 oct. I just got an SMS that there's a decision already and I'm waiting for advice when I can collect it. It's only been 2 weeks and I'm scared they denied my application. 

If it was denied what shall I do? Appeal? Do u suggest I get an immigration consultant? 

Or shall I just renew my current visa expiring end of Jan 2017? Would the denied decision be relevant? 

Please help. Ty


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## Oyibopeppeh (Sep 8, 2010)

First thing is to find out their decision....why are you speculating?


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## Mommy Mae (Nov 10, 2016)

I just got the decision and sticker.. I was so relieved it got approved like what you said I should not speculate. Maybe HA has been really efficient and I got it in just 2 weeks. I was so used to waiting long time for visa to comeback that is why I have all this negative thoughts in my mind. I have learned my lesson. As much as it is difficult, I will try to think positive. Ty forum it was a lot of help getting lots of info. Now I just wait for my PR decision.


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