# Regarding General Work Permit in South Africa



## Krishna Chandran (Jun 13, 2013)

Hi All,

My name is Krishna and I'm basically from India.

Currently, I'm in SouthAfrica (ICT Visa) and my wife is here as my dependant in Visitor'sVisa. Now, she has got a job offer from a South African based company and they have asked to apply for work permit. And, she has got only around 3 years of experience (IT). So she can't go for the quota work permit and the only option is *General Work Permit*.

But when we enquired in some of the agencies over here, they told, it will take upto 6 months processing time. So, it's better to go back to India and apply from there so that we can get it in less than 2 months. Also, their service charge is pretty much on the higher side.

I checked with so many agencies in India including Thomas Cook. But none of them are handling work permits. :frusty:

Could anybody advise on any agency that I can contact to get this done from India. Please help !


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## LegalMan (Dec 26, 2012)

As far as I know (and bear in mind we do not focus on tourist visas), the only place you can look to is VFS (Visa Application Centre for South Africa in India) at South Africa Visa Information India.


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## Krishna Chandran (Jun 13, 2013)

Thanks LegalMan for the quick response.

Please clarify the below points as well.

We were told by one SA agency that, we have to do 

1. salary benchmarking
2. put ad on newspaper and 
3. SAQA (apply online and then submit the documents to the SA office directly) 

along with the 

4. Filled Visa Application Form
5. Medical report
6. Radiology report
7. PCC
8. Educational qualification certificates
9. Marriage certificate and 
10. Offer letter from the employer 

for obtaining the General Work Permit.

If we are applying through VFS from India, how the first 3 items mentioned can be handled. Could you please explain. Thanks in advance.


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## vajeera (Jan 15, 2014)

Hi there, 

Please note that VFS only support for short term visitor visa (Holidays, Business etc.) and for work permits you have to apply directly to the respective consulate in India - So do get all you paperwork done here before applying in India - yes, the turnaround time there will be much less compared to HA here.


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## LegalMan (Dec 26, 2012)

@Krishna Chandran: We use our own internal sources for those three things. SAQA is simply approaching them directly. And I assume your company can simply place an advert? We have our own source for salary benchmarking (which is not always needed).


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## Krishna Chandran (Jun 13, 2013)

Thanks Vajeera and LegalMan for the replies.

Some more queries.

The ad regarding the job was posted in one job site for some time. Will this be considered as a valid proof ?
If NO, How many weeks should the ads be placed in the newspaper ?
If the ads are to be placed in the news paper, then offer letter from the employer should be dated after that. correct ?
Is there any specific conditions in which they will ask for the SalaryBenchmarking ?

Thanks !


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