South African Spouse Visa

With each passing year more and more South Africans are making the decision to come home.

Maybe you miss the sunshine, a ‘lekker braai’ or just the great company from friends and family. Whatever your reason, it may well be that your not returning home alone and are bringing back your non South African wife or husband, perhaps even some children.

If that is the case then you need to know all about the Spouse Visa, who qualifies for it, how your spouse applies and what it allows them to do.

If you are not married but are in a permanent relationship with you non South African partner, please see here for all the information on Life Partner Visa’s and permits.

Alternatively if you prefer to contact one of our immigration consultants to discuss your personal situation you can either email us or call us on + 27 (0) 21 424 2460.

What is a spouse visa and who should apply?

A spouse visa is a temporary residency visa which is issued for either 2 or 3 years. Applications should be made for spouse visa by those who are married to South African Citizens or Permanent Residence holders.

Applications for permanent residence can be made by those who have been married for over 5 years.

If you have been married for 5 years why not apply just for permanent residency?

There is no reason you should not just apply for permanent residence, the issue however is often around timing. Spouse permit applications tend to take the Department of Home Affairs some time to process – as much as two years. If you are planning well in advance, this may well work!

Experience however shows us that most people are not aware they are returning home two years in advance, so there is a very good likelihood you will still need to apply for a spouse visa (temporary residency) as well.

How to apply for a spouse visa

There is a 5 step process in applying for a spouse visa:

Ensure that your partner and yourself both meet the qualifying criteria – this can be trickier than you think.
Compile your application – it is essential that the application be completed 100% correctly.
Submit your application – new applications that involve a change of status must be submitted abroad whereas ‘renewals’ can be made in South Africa.
Monitor and track your application – Intergate can do this on your behalf.
Pick up your spouse visa decision, and if all is well your actual spouse visa stamp as well (which is inserted into your passport).

What a spouse visa allows the foreign partner to do?

The spouse visa is permission to enter and stay in South Africa, as said before, normally for 2 to 3 years. It is essential to understand that it does not give the foreign spouse permission to work, study or set up and run a business.

If any of these activities are undertaken without the correct endorsement. then the visa and the spouses status in South Africa are under threat.

What is an endorsement?

One of the attractions of the spouse visa is the ability to endorse it to work, study or run a business. This endorsement negates the need for the spouse to apply for a specific visa, such as work, as well as bypassing the more onerous requirements.

Find out more:

Endorsing a spouse visa
Working on a spouse visa
Studying on a spouse visa
Setting up a business on a spouse visa

Getting help and why Intergate?

Intergate does not issue visa’s, nor in fact does any immigration company in the world. Nor can we can we give you guarantees on time lines, neither can any one else.

What we do offer is:

The reassurance of dealing with South Africa’ largest independent immigration company.
An unrivalled reputation and visa application success rate.
The experience of dealing with in excess of 6000 visas submitted in over 40 countries around the word.
Credentials of being Home Coming Revolutions official partner.
and a host of other benefits we would like to tell you about…….

So why not see for yourself and put us to the test…..