THE FOLLOWING CATEGORIES OF WORK PERMIT ARE AVAILABLE IN TERMS OF
THE IMMIGRATION ACT (as amended)
QUOTA WORK PERMIT
Section 19 (1) of the Immigration Act
prescribes that a work permit in this category may be issued to an
applicant who falls within a specific professional category or specific
occupational class determined by the Minister annually by notice in
the Government Gazette. This is done after consultation with the
Minister of Labour and the Minister of Trade and Industry. This “quota
list” has not been reviewed and the same list that was published in
2009 is still the one currently in place for purposes of this category
of work permit.
If an applicant falls within one of
the professional categories listed on the quota list and also has five
years’ post qualification working experience in that profession then
such applicant may qualify to apply for this category of work permit.
The applicant also needs to register
with the relevant South African professional body listed in their
particular professional category on the quota list. Furthermore, such
applicant’s qualifications need to be evaluated onto a South African
level.
An applicant for a quota work permit may enter South Africa on a quota work permit without having secured a job offer first. It is, however, required of the applicant to confirm employment with the Department of Home Affairs within a period of ninety days upon arrival in South Africa, failing which, the permit would automatically lapse.
GENERAL WORK PERMIT
Section 19(2) of the Immigration Act provides
that a work permit in this category is issued to an applicant who does
not fall within any of the other categories of work permits.
This category of work permit requires an applicant to be in possession of a written job offer and the following requirements would need to be complied with:
- The prospective employer would have to show that they advertised the position in the national printed media in accordance with certain requirements as laid out in our immigration laws. They would then have to motivate their appointment of the foreign national over any South African citizen or South African permanent resident that may apply.
- A salary benchmarking or Department of Labour report would need to be obtained in order to show that the applicant to be employed would not be remunerated any less favourably than a South African citizen in that position would be
- The applicant’s qualifications would also need to be evaluated onto a South African level.
EXCEPTIONAL SKILLS WORK PERMIT
Section 19(4) of the Immigration Act
provides that an exceptional skills work permit may be granted to an
individual possessing exceptional skills or qualifications.
The word exceptional refers to unusual, uncommon, abnormal, extraordinary or very rare skills or qualifications.
A person who applies for an
exceptional skills work permit must satisfy the Department of Home
Affairs that they are either highly qualified or have mastered unusual
skills that are scarce or not available but needed in a particular
occupational sector in South Africa.
The relevant person qualifying
for this category should be easily recognisable as he/she should be
well known, if not famous, in the specific field of expertise in which
they practice.
INTRA-COMPANY TRANSFER PERMIT
Section 19(5) of the Immigration Act
provides that an intra-company transfer work permit may be issued to a
foreign national who is employed abroad by a company which also
operates a branch, subsidiary or affiliate business in South Africa.
It is important to note that this
category of work permit cannot be granted for more than two years and
this type of permit is not extendable.
CORPORATE PERMITS
A corporate permit may be issued to a corporate
applicant after a recommendation has been granted by the Department of
Labour and the Department of Trade and Industry. It is only then that
an application can be made to the Department of Home Affairs for the
actual corporate permit.
Corporate permits, by their very nature, are only granted to the actual corporate applicant and not to a third party company or “labour broker”.
Corporate permits are, most recently, also only
being granted for corporate applicants considered to be in the national
interest.
In effect, this category of permit offers an “umbrella” licence to bring a certain number of foreign nationals into South Africa from within certain specific skill sets. The permit is granted for a specified duration and is only granted for a limited number of individual applicants to be employed.