Info on work permit

Hello Whatcher and welcome on board Expat.com

I invite you to read articles relevant to your query in our Expat Guide : Work in South Africa as well as Visas for  South Africa

Regards
Kenjee
Expat.com

Thank you, I will have a look

Hi Watcher

Sorry for the late reply. You technically should have a visa that allows you to work. You say you have temporary residency - I assume that means a relatives visa due to being married to a South Africa citizen (your wife). On a relatives visa, you are not allowed to work.

You either need to apply for a work endorsement on your current visa (takes longer - it is a totally new application) or you need to apply for a visitor's visa allowing you to work. Depending on what work it is, you could do this at the border or at a SA mission abroad.

Thank you for that information. I would think the visitors visa would be counter productive as I had to travel back to the US to obtain the Temp residency Visa which is good for 2 years. The visitors visa is good for 90 days. I did some research and found that a Critical Skills visa is good for 5 years and can be changed to another company without re-submission each time I change jobs. I work a lot of contract positions and this would be more conducive to my needs. My skills are also listed as Critical Skills. It is my hope that I can find a company here in South Africa that is able to process this request for me. While I can do it myself, having someone with a history of the process could help me avoid  some of the hurtles I'm certain to encounter. I had to go to 5 different Home Affairs offices before discovering what was needed to renew my Relatives visa.

Ah, in that case good luck with the critical skills work visa application!

Thanks again