Immigration into South Africa has undergone an overhaul since May 2014, with added restrictions now applicable to travel and visa applications.

Shepstone & Wylie has a team of experienced immigration lawyers, who focus on guiding our clients through the quagmire of bureaucratic red tape and presenting effective expatriate tax solutions. If an application submitted to Home Affairs runs into difficulty, our attorneys have a wealth of expertise to litigate a successful outcome – a service regularly offered to immigration agents, and their clientele.

Our practice areas include:

  • Temporary residency visas

  • Visitor visas

  • Study visas

  • Treaty visas

  • Exchange visas

  • Business visas

  • Corporate visas

  • Intra-company work visas

  • General work visas

  • Critical skills work visas

  • Crew visas

  • Medical treatment visas

  • Relatives’ visas

  • Retired person visas

Permanent residence permits for:

  • Work visa for five years with offer for permanent employment

  • Spouse of a citizen or permanent resident for five years and the Director-General is satisfied that a good faith spousal relationship exists

  • Children under the age of 21 of a citizen or permanent resident

  • Children of South African citizens

  • Permanent employment in a specific professional category or within a specific occupational class

  • Extraordinary skills or qualifications

  • Intention to establish or has established a business in the Republic, and investing in it or in an established business

  • Refugee subject to prescribed requirements

  • Retired person

  • Relative of a citizen or permanent resident within the first step of kinship

Applications for:

  • Visas to temporarily sojourn in Republic

  • Change of status or terms and conditions relating to visas

  • Extension of visas

  • Amending “undesirable person” status

  • A “Waiver” of prescribed requirements

Advice on:

  • Citizenship

  • Employer responsibilities in respect of foreigners

  • Landlord/hotel/guest house responsibilities in respect of foreigners

  • Permanent homosexual or heterosexual relationships

  • German nationals in “life partnerships”

  • Minors travelling accompanied and unaccompanied

  • Applications to the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA)

  • Expatriate tax

Representations to, and litigation against, the Director-General of Home Affairs and/or Minister of Home Affairs.

Kate Oosthuizen
 Partner