Working in South Africa

Legal ways to work there

• Critical Skills Work Visa: a job offer or contract, an occupation on the latest gazetted Critical Skills List, a SAQA evaluation of your qualification, and confirmation from the relevant South African professional body (and registration where the law requires it).
• General Work Visa and Intra Company Transfer Work Visa, issued by the Department of Home Affairs. Since October 2024 work visas use a points test: you need 100 points, and a job offer is required.

Your rights

• The Basic Conditions of Employment Act, the Labour Relations Act and the Employment Equity Act apply to employees in South Africa.
• A worker earning below the BCEA earnings threshold who works less than four hours on any day must be paid for four hours.

Pay floor

National minimum wage: R30.23 per ordinary hour from 1 March 2026, including domestic and farm workers.

Red flags

• Anyone asking you to pay for a job, a "visa slot" or a medical test booking before you have a real written offer.
• An offer without an interview, or a contract sent only by WhatsApp.
• An agent who is not registered with TaESA, or who asks to keep your passport.
• Being offered work on a visitor's visa: working without the right visa can lead to deportation and a ban.

Where to get help

• Department of Employment and Labour for workplace complaints.
• Department of Home Affairs for visas.
• The Tanzania High Commission in Pretoria.

Tanzanian embassy contacts

From the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (official list) and each mission's own website, checked 5 November 2026. Call before you visit.