South African based companies often require specialist work to be done on an urgent basis. There may not be South African persons that have the required specialist skills, and in that case it becomes necessary to bring foreigners to South Africa in order to attend to the work.

The work may be of such an urgent nature that the local South African company does not have the time to recruit someone permanent and to go through the fairly long process of applying for a long term work visa for that person. In such cases the Short Term Work Visa (also known as a Section 11 (2) Visa) is the ideal option.

The work can be of any nature, and common applications include the following: installation of new machinery, repair of mechanical breakdowns, short term training and skills upgrades, initiation of new projects etc.

The standard turnaround time for the processing of a Short Term Work Visa is 5 – 7 working days, but can be even faster. It is valid for 3 months, and can be renewed for a further 3 month period from within South Africa. It is very important to clearly state the reason for requiring the foreign person to work in South Africa, and the skills that they will be using during the course of their work in the country.

Should you require any further information please do not hesitate to contact us.