Advice Needed

Welcome to Expat.com Victoria31!

Hope that you'll soon be advised.

Harmonie.

Hi Victoria. You should be able to find all the details you need on the Home Affairs website under Immigration Services and Temporary Residence Permits: http://www.home-affairs.gov.za/

Regarding the three month stay allowance, I'm pretty sure that it's effective for three months from the date of your entry, and you need a separate permit for each entry.

You can apply for a permit while in South Africa, but do note that visas aren't processed quickly (temporary residence permits applied for in South African can take around three months).

I think you might have some difficulties if you're not married to your partner, because if you're applying for a standard work permit then there's a number of hoops your employer will have to jump through to prove why they're hiring you and not a South African citizen (like specialist skills).

Things were easier for my foreign wife and I: she applied for a visitor's permit while she was my fiance, we got married soon after her arrival and received her temporary residence permit within the three months. From there we made a separate application to endorse the temporary residence permit to allow her to work once she received a job offer (a real pain because you need to apply for an endorsement every time you change your job).

Where there's a will there's a way though! Wishing you all the best.