🇿🇦 South Africa · Work Visa
Work permit categories, eligibility, sponsorship, application steps, and processing times.
Temporary work visas are issued through the Department of Home Affairs framework. Common routes include general work, critical skills and intra-company transfer visas, with applications normally processed through South African missions abroad or VFS channels where applicable.
- General work visas require labour-market evidence that suitable citizens or permanent residents are not available.
- Critical-skills cases depend on the current critical skills list and qualification recognition, often involving SAQA or professional bodies.
- Do not travel for work until the visa is approved; official guidance says temporary residence applications are finalised before travel.
Official authorities
- South African Government — work permits
Official work-visa overview.
- Department of Home Affairs
Immigration and visa authority.
Official-information aggregation, not legal advice. Always verify on the authority's own site.