# Critical Skills Visa requirements for PhD holder in Neuroscience with job offer



## WernerK (Apr 7, 2014)

Dear all,

I'm writing this on behalf of my Dutch partner who currently resides in London on the freedom of movement laws in the EU (ie no residency permit/card).

She's in the process of collecting all necessary documents for a Critical Skills Visa application. 

We're very confused by the websites and would much appreciate any advice on what she needs to do. We'd like to ask the following questions:


•	She holds a PhD in neuroscience, but could not find this or anything similar on the Critical Skills list. Our guess was that she would have to choose ‘Academics and Researchers’, but not sure. Could you please advise? 
•	On a related note, she also have not been able to find the appropriate Professional Body. We thought the HCPSA would be suitable, but she's not a medic so we think that rules it out. Does anyone know which one she needs and how to get a certificate or would SAQA be sufficient?
•	She accepted a Research Fellow post at Stellenbosch University and will be starting in September 2017. She's under huge time pressure. She does not have all the required documents yet, and have not submitted her visa application. Her resignation at Imperial College London is effective from September 1st and she won't be able (and doesn't want) to extend her work there. Is it feasible to have her visa in place and fly out to South Africa at the end of August?
•	She's currently awaiting her SAQA verification. She's had problems with the SA post and couriers before, which resulted in a 5-week wait for her application to even be delivered. To speed things up, she thought to have the verification sent from the SAQA office in Pretoria to me in Hermanus, where the certificates can be certified. Is a certified copy of SAQA documents accepted for a visa application, or must she submit the original documents?

We may come up with additional questions, but for now I think this is it. Thank you very much, we really appreciate any advice on this. 

Best wishes,

Werner


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## Oyibopeppeh (Sep 8, 2010)

WernerK said:


> •	She holds a PhD in neuroscience, but could not find this or anything similar on the Critical Skills list. Our guess was that she would have to choose ‘Academics and Researchers’, but not sure. Could you please advise?
> 
> - Yes, since she plans to take up a research position at Stellenbosch
> 
> ...


My replies above. HTH


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## WernerK (Apr 7, 2014)

Thank you very much for your reply Oyibopeppeh, it's much appreciated.

Have a great day!


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