What is a relative's visa and who qualifies?

A relative's visa is a temporary residence visa under the Immigration Act 13 of 2002 for a person who is a member of the immediate family of a South African citizen or permanent resident. It exists so that close family can live together in South Africa. A parent joining an adult child who is a citizen, or a child joining a parent who is a permanent resident, are the ordinary cases.

Two features define it. First, the whole application rests on proving the family relationship and on a financial assurance given by the relative who is already here. Second, and this is where most people are caught out, it does not by itself allow you to work or to study. It is a visa to be here, not a visa to earn or to enrol. If you want to work you need a work visa, and if you want to study you need a study visa.

Who counts as "immediate family" is set by the regulations, which describe the degree of kinship that qualifies. The categories and requirements have been adjusted over the years, so confirm the current position rather than relying on what applied when a family member came over. If you are the spouse or permanent life partner of a citizen or permanent resident, this is not your category. You apply for a spousal visa instead. Read how to apply for a spousal visa in South Africa.

How a relative's visa works, step by step

1. Confirm the relationship qualifies. Check the current regulations for the degree of kinship they cover. Parents, children and, in some cases, other close relatives are the usual ground. Cousins, aunts and in-laws generally are not.

2. Confirm the status of the relative in South Africa. They must be a South African citizen or a permanent resident. A relative who is themselves on a temporary visa cannot anchor this application.

3. Prove the relationship with official documents. Unabridged birth certificates showing both parents, or the equivalent official record from your country, are the backbone. Where documents are missing or unclear, DNA evidence is sometimes used.

4. Arrange the financial assurance. The relative in South Africa must give the financial assurance the regulations require, in the form and amount they set. This is an undertaking that you will be supported and not become a burden. Check the current requirement, because the amount and the mechanism have changed over time.

5. Get the supporting requirements done. Police clearances from every country where you lived for twelve months or more since age eighteen, a medical report and a radiological report, and a passport valid well beyond the period you are applying for.

6. Submit the application. You apply through VFS Global if you are in South Africa lawfully and the regulations allow the application to be made from inside the country, or at a South African mission abroad. Which categories can be applied for or changed from inside South Africa has changed, so check before you assume you can do it here.

7. Keep it renewed. A relative's visa is temporary. It must be renewed before it expires. Read how to renew a South African visa.

8. Consider the permanent route later. There is a separate relatives route to permanent residence for immediate family members of citizens and permanent residents. Read how to get permanent residence in South Africa and use the permanent residence and citizenship calculator.

A worked example

The facts below are illustrative only and are not a real case.

Grace is 63 and lives in Malawi. Her daughter Chipo is a permanent resident in Durban and wants her mother to live with her. Grace has been visiting on a visitor's visa twice a year and staying as long as it allows, which is expensive and unsettled.

Chipo checks the current requirements and sees that the relationship must be proved and that she, as the relative in South Africa, must give the financial assurance in the form the regulations set. She obtains a certified copy of her own birth certificate showing Grace as her mother, and Grace obtains an official copy of her own identity documents. Chipo puts the financial assurance in place.

Grace obtains a police clearance from Malawi, and also from Zambia where she taught for four years in her thirties. She has the medical and radiological reports done. She applies at the South African mission in Malawi rather than trying to switch from a visitor's visa inside South Africa, because she confirms that a change of that kind from inside the country is not open to her.

The visa is issued for a set period. Grace understands that it does not allow her to work, so when a neighbour offers her paid childminding she declines. Working outside the terms of the visa could see her declared undesirable and would put the whole arrangement, and any future permanent residence application, at risk.

What to do this week

1. Check the current regulations for which relatives qualify and what the financial assurance requires. Do not rely on a family member's experience from several years ago.
2. Confirm the South African relative's status, citizen or permanent resident, and get a certified copy of the identity document or permanent residence permit.
3. Order the unabridged birth certificates or the official equivalents from your country. These take the longest.
4. Start police clearances from every country where you lived for twelve months or more since age eighteen.
5. Check where you must apply, in South Africa through VFS Global or at a mission abroad, before you make travel plans.
6. Cost the application. See what immigration costs.

Documents to gather

• Your passport, valid well beyond the period applied for, with blank pages
• Unabridged birth certificates or equivalent official records proving the relationship, translated and certified where they are not in English
• The South African relative's identity document or permanent residence permit
• Proof of the financial assurance in the form the current regulations require
• Proof of the relative's income or means, where required
• Police clearance certificates from every country lived in for twelve months or more since age eighteen
• Medical report and radiological report
• Proof of accommodation in South Africa
• Marriage certificate or death certificate where it explains a change of surname
• Adoption order or court order where the relationship arises that way
• Completed forms, photographs and proof of the fee

A realistic timeline

Home Affairs processing times vary widely, differ between offices and missions, and have changed more than once. These are broad ranges only.

• Getting unabridged birth certificates: weeks to many months, depending on the country.
• Police clearances: weeks to several months.
• Decision after submission: commonly a few months, sometimes longer, and mission timeframes differ from those in South Africa.
• Renewal: start it well before expiry, not in the last few weeks.
• Appeal after a refusal: several further months. See how to appeal a visa rejection from Home Affairs and the visa rejection appeal letter template.

Common mistakes and what they cost

• Working on a relative's visa. It does not permit work. Doing so can lead to being declared undesirable, which bars return for a period and poisons future applications.
• Enrolling a child at school or university on a relative's visa without checking. Study is a separate category. Read can I study in South Africa on a visitor's visa.
• Using an abridged birth certificate. Home Affairs usually needs the unabridged version showing both parents.
• Assuming a spouse applies on this route. Spouses and life partners apply for a spousal visa.
• Getting the financial assurance wrong. The form and amount are set by the regulations and have changed. An assurance in the wrong form is a refusal.
• Applying from inside South Africa when the category does not allow it. A wasted fee and, if the current visa expires meanwhile, an overstay. Read what happens if my visa expires while I am in South Africa.
• Letting it expire. You may not simply stay while a late application is pending.

If you cannot afford an attorney

You apply yourself. In South Africa applications go through VFS Global, and abroad they go through the South African embassy, high commission or consulate, and the requirements for each category are published. The Department of Home Affairs contact centre answers questions on requirements and on the status of a submitted application. University law clinics advise on immigration matters at no charge and are a good first stop when the relationship documents are complicated. The South African Human Rights Commission takes complaints about how officials have treated you. Lawyers for Human Rights and the Scalabrini Centre assist refugees and asylum seekers. If you are detained for deportation, Legal Aid South Africa on 0800 110 110 helps in detention and deportation matters, and you should read what your rights are if you are detained for deportation. See legal aid.

Frequently asked questions

People ask whether a relative's visa lets them work. It does not, and this is the single most common misunderstanding. If you want to work you need a work visa in your own right. Read which visa do I need to work in South Africa. They ask whether a grandparent or a grandchild qualifies. That depends on the degree of kinship in the current regulations, so check rather than assume. They ask whether the financial assurance means the relative has to hand over money. It is an undertaking in the form the regulations require, and the mechanism has changed, so confirm the current requirement. They ask whether the visa leads to permanent residence. There is a separate relatives route to permanent residence, with its own requirements. They ask whether a child on a relative's visa can go to school, and the answer is that study is a separate category and you should check the position for your child rather than enrolling and hoping. They ask whether they can switch from a visitor's visa to a relative's visa while in the country, and the answer is that only some changes are allowed from inside South Africa, and which ones has changed. Read can I change my visa status from inside South Africa.