# Accompany Spouse Options!



## TheHostPlayer (Mar 6, 2012)

Hi everyone!

So after a year of misleading advice from Homa Affairs me and my South African partner (who were already engaged) decided we'd get the formalities out the way and do the big shabang later in order to increase my chances of getting a visa here in SA.

When we got married at Home Affairs, the lady told us everything we had been told was rubbish and that we needed to take our paperwork back to Pretoria and apply for an accompany spouse permit. She said it lasts 2-3 years, is free and would allow me to work. I rubbed my hands at the great fortune of finally being able to get on with my life after a year of turmoil trying to get back to work.

Upon arriving in pretoria to collect this visa, I asked if I could work, to which I was told "No. You need a work permit" !!!!!!!!

Once again misled! So sick of this!!!

So I've had enough sour grapes for one lifetime. The problem I'm having now is with the Work Permit. My skills are in management, which seems to be a huge BEE spot, meaning my skills make me unhireable. If I go for an interview, nobody will wait 6-8 weeks for a work permit to come through. Most won't even interview me as I can't get an ID. Book. So getting hired is almost impossible!

Now I'm looking at student visas, to see if I can maybe do some part time work at least whilst I do a home course in IT so I can get some more skills and get to work.

I've read that on a 90 day visitors pass you are allowed to complete any courses without a visa if they are less than 90 days. Does that mean I can enroll on a home course as I have 2 years on my current permit? The issue is the length of time. Realistically, ill be done in 6 months, but the home courses have no time-frame!

Do I have any options with the work issue? Also. If I do get a work permit, can I change/leave jobs freely?

Thanks!


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## Saartjie (Mar 1, 2010)

TheHostPlayer said:


> Hi everyone!
> 
> So after a year of misleading advice from Homa Affairs me and my South African partner (who were already engaged) decided we'd get the formalities out the way and do the big shabang later in order to increase my chances of getting a visa here in SA.
> 
> ...


From your post I am not sure what visa you were actually granted. As a spouse you are entitled to a Temporary Residence 'spousal permit' which can be endorsed for work. It is a permit under section 11 (6) of the Immigrations Act and is classed as a visitors permit which then can be endorsed for work (they are generally granted for a period of 2 years). What you need to do is get a job offer and submit this with an application to change the conditions of your permit. Once your application has been finalised your permit should state that you are to reside with SA Spouse and take up employment with the company that provided you with the job offer. It is job specific unfortunately so if you change jobs you need to make a new application to change the employer.

All of the above sounds complicated but it really isn't. The problem is that it can take a while for the new permit to come through. Still, it is the easier option for a spouse since it will allow you to apply for any job and the company does not need to show that the job was advertised first and that they could not find any SA citizen for the job and therefore chose you.

With regards to studying on a 90 day permit, I am not sure if this is true. As far as I know, you need a study permit to study.

Legal Man can provide more info, he is the expert on this forum.


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## TheHostPlayer (Mar 6, 2012)

On my permit it just says 'accompany spouse' and allows me to reside in South Africa with my South African partner. Not the same as the Spousal/life partner permit (I applied whilst we were living in the UK and got rejected).

I don't want to spend the next 5 years telling employers to wait 8 weeks to hire me every time I want to change jobs. I'm on the verge of just leaving, this is horrible!

Is there NO way around this all?


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## Saartjie (Mar 1, 2010)

TheHostPlayer said:


> On my permit it just says 'accompany spouse' and allows me to reside in South Africa with my South African partner. Not the same as the Spousal/life partner permit (I applied whilst we were living in the UK and got rejected).
> 
> I don't want to spend the next 5 years telling employers to wait 8 weeks to hire me every time I want to change jobs. I'm on the verge of just leaving, this is horrible!
> 
> Is there NO way around this all?


Well you can try what I did. It depends upon your qualifications and experience. I had a permit for one employer and went for interview for another employer. As it seemed likely that I would get the new job I instructed my lawyer to apply for a new permit. However, I asked if there was a way not to make it job specific, just in case I did not get the job as my permit would then be useless to me.

My lawyer applied for the section 11(6) permit but instead of submitting a job offer, my lawyer did an affidavit saying that my permit should be issued and state the following:

To accompany SA Spouse ID No................. and to take up employement in the fields of Management/Legal/Finance/Real Estate.

The application was accepted by HA and all they asked for was for me to evidence that I was qualified in all the fields stated so I submitted my qualifications. My permit was issued and I got the job that I had applied for but as my permit is not job specific I can change employer as long as I continue to work within the fields as stated on my permit.

In view of the above, you should be able to do the same if you have the qualifications to back it up and you know in which fields you want to work.

If you are going down this route however I would strongly advise you to get an immigration lawyer to assist as you may need them to back up your case when it comes to qualifications and you would also need them to submit an Affidavit on your behalf.


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## TheHostPlayer (Mar 6, 2012)

So if I wait I could do the same with an IT qualification, potentially?


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## Saartjie (Mar 1, 2010)

TheHostPlayer said:


> So if I wait I could do the same with an IT qualification, potentially?


I guess so. For me it was easy to prove as I am a lawyer and have my legal qualifications. As I said, you should get help from an immigration lawyer to make sure it is done in the right way (we all know how Home Affairs are). It definitely was worth the money I spent on legal fees.


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## LegalMan (Dec 26, 2012)

I seem to have missed this post - Saartjie is pretty much right. Home Affairs is a bit right and wrong in the way they told you what to do.

You cannot work on a Relative's Permit (Spousal is one of the types), so you apply for a Work Endorsement and then you can work. Your type of permit changes.


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