Is this for a founder, startup entrepreneur, self-employed person, freelancer, company owner or another business profile?
The business visa is for a foreigner who invests capital into a South African business, either by establishing a business or investing in one that is not yet established in the Republic, or by having already established a business or invested in an existing business there. The Immigration Regulations, 2014 set out the two cases separately with near-identical documents, the difference being whether the money is available or already invested. It is an owner-investor route with a local employment obligation, not a freelance or self-employment permission: the applicant must undertake that at least 60% of the total staff complement employed in the operations of the business will be South African citizens or permanent residents employed permanently in various positions.
See recorded sources
- The captured source does not describe any start-up, innovation or sole-trader variant of the business visa, nor the treatment of a freelancer with no staff.
- The Immigration Regulations, 2014 were captured as published on 22 May 2014; later amendments to them, including the amendment that inserted regulation 18(12) and (13) referred to by the 2024 points-based system notice, were not captured in this run and could have changed this text.
- Immigration Regulations, 2014 (GN R413, Gazette 37679, 22 May 2014)
Business visa 14.(1) An application for a business visa by a foreigner who intends to establish a business or invest in a business that is not yet established in the Republic, shall be accompanied by-
- Immigration Regulations, 2014 (GN R413, Gazette 37679, 22 May 2014)
(2) An application for a business visa by a foreigner who has established a business or invested in an existing business in the Republic, shall be accompanied by-
- Immigration Regulations, 2014 (GN R413, Gazette 37679, 22 May 2014)
(b) an undertaking by the applicant that at least 60% of the total staff complement to be employed in the operations of the business shall be South African citizens or permanent residents employed permanently in various positions: Provided that proof of compliance with this undertaking shall be submitted within 12 months of issuance of the visa;
- Immigration Regulations, 2014 (GN R413, Gazette 37679, 22 May 2014)
(3) A foreigner who invests or has invested in an existing business shall, in addition to complying with subregulation (2), submit-
