Can I get a visa in South Africa when I am customarily married to a South African citizen?

The long answer

You can apply for a spousal visa on a visitor’s visa from within South Africa, following a Constitutional Court ruling in June 2019.  

The first thing you should attend to is to register your customary marriage at the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) as you will need to submit a marriage certificate to DHA when applying for the spousal visa. Either you or your wife or both of you may register your marriage in terms of section 4(2) of the Recognition of Customary Marriages Act of 1998.

You are supposed to register a customary marriage within three months of the date of the marriage, but the Recognition of Customary Marriages Act of 1998 specifically provides that failure to register the marriage does not nullify or invalidate the marriage – it just makes it harder to prove. 

If you are married, you can apply for a spousal visa. There is no minimum period that you need to have been married.

A spousal visa is a temporary visa, usually given for two or three years. You can get an endorsement on your spousal visa that will allow you to work but you can only apply for the endorsement once you have a job offer from a specific employer and the endorsement will only be for that employer.

You can also get an endorsement on your spousal visa to run a business, but you will need to prove that you’ve got a business structure in place like a Sole Proprietorship or Proprietary Limited ((Pty) Ltd).

Once you have been married for five years, and have a valid spousal visa. You can apply for a spousal permit, which is a permanent residency,  and then you don’t need endorsements to work and open bank accounts.

It takes a minimum of ten weeks for Home Affairs to process any visa. In the interim you need to keep your visitor’s visa updated.

The documents you are required to submit for the spousal visa are the following:

• A marriage certificate;

• Proof of your South African spouse’s citizenship; 

• A letter of support from your South African spouse; (She will be required to show that she has R8 500 a month to support you. If she is unable to, you would have to show that you have R8 500 a month to support yourself.)

• Proof of good health and standing;

• A completed temporary residency application form.

You could also apply for a relative’s visa (spouses and parents can apply) but holders of a Relatives Visa may not work, study or conduct a business, whereas spouses of a South African citizen or permanent resident may apply for an endorsement or authorization to work, study or conduct a business while residing in South Africa.

Apart from the application form, the following documents have to be submitted for the relatives’ visa:

• Your passport, which is required to have at least one blank page for the insertion of the permit/visa;

• A yellow fever vaccination certificate, if applicable;

• Payment of the application fee (not required where the applicant is a spouse or dependent child of a South African citizen/permanent resident);

• A statement and/or documentation showing the purpose and duration of your visit (temporary residence visa applications);

• Proof of the relative’s relationship, such as birth certificates, marriage certificates etc;

• Police clearance certificate from each country in which you resided for 12 months or longer since the age of 18 years;

• Medical and radiology reports;

• The ID book and/or passport that proves the South African relative is indeed a citizen or permanent residency holder; and

• Documentation that proves the availability of at least R8,500 per month per person for financial assurance (a waiver can be applied for spouses or dependent minor children of a South African citizen/permanent resident to waive the minimum financial requirements).

You may want to ask advice on getting an endorsement on your spousal visa from the following organisations:

• Lawyers for Human Rights:

Johannesburg office:

Tel: 011 339 1960

Cape Town office: 021 424 8561

email: lhr@lhr.org.za

• Legal Resources Centre:

Email: info@lrc.org.za

Tel: 011 038 9709

Wishing you the best,
Athalie