Hiring a Foreign National: The Work Visa Basics Every Employer Needs to Know

A business finding the right candidate for a role, only to discover they're not a South African citizen or permanent resident, faces a genuinely important compliance question before an offer can turn into an actual start date — and getting this wrong carries real consequences for the employer, not just the prospective employee.

The two main routes: Critical Skills vs General Work Visa

Work visas fall under the Immigration Act 13 of 2002, and for most employer-sponsored hiring, two categories matter:

Critical Skills Work Visa — for occupations appearing on the Department of Home Affairs' gazetted Critical Skills List, a published catalogue of professions the government considers essential to the economy. Typical qualifying occupations include specific categories of engineers, ICT specialists, specialist medical practitioners, actuaries, and certain academic roles.
General Work Visa — the default route for a foreign national with a genuine job offer where the specific role isn't on the Critical Skills List.

The points-based system: what changed, and when

Since 9 October 2024, both categories require applicants to score at least 100 points under a formal points-based system, gazetted by the Minister of Home Affairs. This is a genuinely significant structural change from the previous approach:

Critical Skills List occupations score 100 points automatically — simply holding a role on the gazetted list is enough to reach the full threshold on its own, and comes with eligibility for fast-tracked processing.
General Work Visa applicants reach the 100-point threshold through a combination of factors — educational qualifications, salary level, years of relevant experience, language skills, and the standing of the employer making the offer — none of which alone automatically qualifies an applicant the way a Critical Skills List occupation does.

The points-based system doesn't apply to every work visa category — the Intra-Company Transfer Work Visa (used to move an employee from a foreign branch of a multinational into its South African operation) sits outside this specific reform.

What this means practically for an employer

Before extending an offer to a foreign national, it's worth understanding upfront which route the candidate is likely to qualify under — a Critical Skills List match is generally the faster, more straightforward path, while a General Work Visa application depends on a genuine points assessment across several factors, some of which (the employer's own standing, for instance) the business itself has some bearing on. A candidate who doesn't clearly score enough points under either route is a real hiring risk to plan around, not a detail to discover only once an offer has already been made and the candidate has begun the application.

Processing times for work visas generally run considerably longer than a typical local hiring timeline — this is worth factoring into any start date discussed with a candidate, rather than assuming the process moves at the same pace as onboarding a South African hire.

What happens if you get this wrong

The Employment Services Act already places labour law duties on employers hiring foreign nationals, and the Department of Employment and Labour has real inspection powers alongside a stated policy of prosecuting employers who knowingly or negligently employ someone without valid work authorisation. This isn't a low-priority technicality — a business that starts a foreign national working before their visa is genuinely in place, or continues employing someone whose status has lapsed, carries real legal exposure, not simply a risk to the employee's own status.

Getting this right from the start

Confirm work authorisation status before a start date is set, not after — an offer conditional on the visa being properly secured protects both parties from a premature start.
Understand which visa route genuinely applies to the specific candidate and role, since Critical Skills List membership materially changes both the process and the likely timeline.
Build realistic timelines into hiring plans — a role requiring a foreign hire generally has a longer runway to actually filling it than a local hire would, and treating the two identically risks a genuine operational gap.
Keep the employee's documentation current throughout their employment, not just at the point of hiring — a visa that lapses during employment is the employer's problem as much as the employee's.

Sources: the Immigration Act 13 of 2002 and the Department of Home Affairs' Points-Based System for work visas, gazetted in Government Gazette 51365 (Proclamation R5397, 9 October 2024) — confirming the 100-point threshold, automatic qualification for Critical Skills List occupations with fast-track eligibility, the General Work Visa's multi-factor points criteria, and the Intra-Company Transfer Work Visa's exclusion from the points system. Employer obligations and enforcement corroborated against the Employment Services Act's existing labour law duties on employers of foreign nationals. This is general information, not immigration advice — a business hiring a foreign national should get specific guidance from an immigration practitioner given how significantly the points-based system changed the process from what applied before October 2024.

A worked example

A small tech company finds an excellent candidate for a senior software engineering role, a foreign national whose specific specialisation appears on the Critical Skills List. Because the occupation itself scores the full 100 points, the candidate qualifies for the fast-tracked Critical Skills Work Visa process rather than needing to accumulate points across qualifications, salary and experience individually. Compare this to a different role at the same company — a generalist marketing position not on the Critical Skills List — where a foreign candidate for that role would instead need to build up 100 points through the General Work Visa's combined criteria, a genuinely different and typically slower process the company needs to plan its hiring timeline around accordingly.

Frequently asked

Can an employer sponsor or pay for a foreign employee's work visa application? Yes, employers commonly support the application process and associated costs as part of extending an offer to a foreign candidate, though the visa itself is issued to the individual, not the company, and remains tied to that person's specific status.

Does the points-based system apply to visa renewals, or only new applications? The points-based system applies to applications submitted on or after its effective date of 9 October 2024 — a business with an existing foreign employee whose visa was granted before that date should confirm with an immigration practitioner exactly how the new system applies at renewal.

What is the Critical Skills List, and how often is it updated? It's a gazetted list published by the Department of Home Affairs, identifying occupations considered critical to the economy — the list is periodically reviewed and updated, so confirming a specific occupation's current status directly rather than relying on an outdated version is worth doing before assuming a candidate automatically qualifies.

Can a spouse of a foreign national working in South Africa also work, or do they need a separate visa? A spouse generally needs their own appropriate visa status to legally work, separate from their partner's work visa — this is worth clarifying directly with an immigration practitioner for the specific family situation involved, rather than assuming one work visa automatically covers a spouse.

What should a business do if it discovers an existing employee's work visa has lapsed? This should be treated with genuine urgency — continuing to employ someone without valid authorisation carries real risk, and the business should get immediate advice on regularising the situation (or, if that's genuinely not possible, ending the employment relationship properly) rather than continuing on the assumption the issue will resolve itself.

Does the points-based system apply to all foreign nationals, or are there exceptions beyond Intra-Company Transfers? Beyond the excluded Intra-Company Transfer category, other visa types (such as visas tied to specific bilateral agreements, or certain categories outside the standard employer-sponsored routes) may follow different rules entirely — confirming which specific visa category genuinely applies to a candidate's situation is the necessary first step before assuming the points-based system is even the relevant framework.

Can a business be held liable if a recruitment agency placed a foreign worker without proper status? The employer remains responsible for confirming valid work authorisation before someone actually starts working, regardless of how the candidate was sourced — relying on a recruitment agency's assurance without independent verification doesn't remove the employer's own compliance obligation under the Employment Services Act.