In the past, corporate visas (formerly known as corporate permits until 26 May 2014) were recommended to many South African organizations which needed to bring foreign workers into the country en masse. Due to the 2014 changes to South Africa’s immigration policies, which became effective from 26 May 2014, the holders of corporate worker certificates, which are the visas issued by the corporate visa holder organization to its foreign workers, may not renew their corporate worker certificates or change their statuses while in the country.
Corporate Visa changes
Corporate worker certificates are now issued for a maximum period of three years and the worker’s spouse and children do not qualify for visas by extension. In order for the worker’s family to accompany him or her to South Africa, the dependents need to independently qualify for their own visas.
The changes will cause many corporate visa holders to reassess how they utilize their corporate visas and the accompanying corporate worker certificates. The amount of training and investment into the worker must be weighed up against the worker’s three year maximum tenure.
In the fields of technology and engineering, where a significant investment into training the worker is needed before he or she is properly able to do the job, the corporate worker certificate visa may prove not to be a viable option. Rather, organizations in these fields should consider intra-company and critical skills visas.
Best Corporate Visa siutations
One sector which is ideally suited to corporate visas, are farms. Seasonal workers from neighbouring countries are ideally suited to compliment local labour shortages. As these labourers can enter the country for seasonal work and then return to their countries of origin, the corporate visa provides a cost-effective solution for shortages in the local unskilled labour market.
Contact us for more information on how your farm or company can apply for a corporate visa.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column]
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Contact Le Roux Attorneys, South African Visa specialists about your visa application. Start by selecting one of the enquiry options below