# American moving to SA



## dc-jhb (Mar 20, 2010)

Hi everyone,

This is my first time posting so please forgive me if I touch upon topics that have been previously discussed.

I'm an American planning to move to SA in August -- for a few months or possibly longer. I will be moving in with my boyfriend, who is South African. I currently work for an NGO that has a presence in SA and I plan to do consulting work for them while I'm there. (They are not transferring me, and therefore I will not have an SA work permit.) I will be paid for this work by our headquarters office in Washington.

So here are my questions:

1) Can I stay in SA on my 90-day tourist visa and do consulting work while I'm there, as long as I am paid by US-based companies, to a US bank account? Or could I get myself into trouble by doing this?

2) If I leave SA and then re-enter a week or two later, I assume my 90-day visa will start again. How many times can one do this without arousing suspicion? I will probably be traveling internationally quite a bit.

3) I've heard you can renew the 90-day tourist visa one time. Is that it?

4) If I'm in SA on a tourist visa, can I open a bank account there?

The bottom line is, I'm trying to figure out how long (and how easily) I can stay in SA without a work permit or some other type of residence permit. Any advice would be much appreciated! Thanks.


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## mman (Nov 15, 2009)

dc-jhb said:


> I currently work for an NGO that has a presence in SA and I plan to do consulting work for them while I'm there.
> .


And they cant organise you a work permit? Surely as your employer they should be trying to help you out with this?

Anyways try sifting through this site Visiting South Africa: visas - SouthAfrica.info it might help you!

I am pretty sure that you should be applying for a work permit in your case. Check here http://www.southafrica.info/travel/documents/workpermits.htm for more info on that!
Note also with a work permit you can leave and re-enter the country without a problem aslong as it hasnt expired, it lasts a year.


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## dc-jhb (Mar 20, 2010)

Yes, it would be really great if my employer were willing to get a work permit for me. Unfortunately they are not. This move is my choice, not theirs, so...sigh. At any rate, thank you for the links -- I will check them out.


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## Daxk (Jan 20, 2008)

you cannot open a bank account without a pr or work permit.
but your b/f can get an extra bank debit card( or another bank account) on his account and you can transfer money into his account,


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