Lifestyle and Leisure
Retiring to South Africa
If you dream of retiring to South Africa, take note as Julian Pokroy explains the ins and outs of the retirement permit paperwork
South Africa has always been, and will continue to remain, a very attractive destination for retirees. It is not only the climate, the scenic and geographical diversity, but also the diversity of the people that maintains this attraction.
The South African immigration law regime is governed by the Immigration Act number 13 of 2002, which came into operation on the 7th April 2003. It has been subsequently amended, most recently being in 2005, coming into operation on the 1st July 2005. The amendment has brought an interesting innovation into play regarding retirees and how their retirement funding can be sourced in either temporary or permanent residence applications.
In essence the requirement is that the applicant should be able to prove that they can derive a monthly income of no less than ZAR20,000, sourced in the manner as set out hereunder:
Income from a pension; or
Income from an irrevocable retirement annuity; and/or
Income derived from 'a combination of assets'.
In other words the flexibility introduced in the 2005 Amendment Act now allows a person to combine income from a pension (which may perhaps not reach the target income amount) with income derived from other sources, and this would include income derived from an irrevocable retirement annuity. The flexibility allows, for income to be derived from investments either with financial institutions or elsewhere or even income derived from rental of a property.
The crux of the matter remains that the income must not be less than ZAR 20,000 per month. If an applicant were to qualify with this amount in the manner stated above then they would be entitled to apply for a temporary residence permit in the retired persons category for a period of up to four years. This kind of temporary residence permit is extendable. Qualification in this category would also allow an applicant to apply for permanent residence based upon their retirement income. The door is, therefore, opened for seasonal retirees to apply for temporary residence in South Africa and to spend the cold UK and European periods in sunny South Africa.
The nature of a temporary residence permit in this category permits multiple re-entries and accordingly retirees would be entitled to enter and leave South Africa at will during the subsistence and validity period of their retired persons permit. Owning of a property in South Africa would be a supplemental bonus factor in any application. In addition, proof of medical insurance would similarly enhance and reinforce such an application for a retired persons permit.
All of these factors are equally applicable in the permanent residence category and this would cater for the retiring applicants to make a more permanent retirement base in South Africa and ultimately, after obtaining permanent residence, to qualify for naturalisation as a South African citizen should they so wish. It is obviously an essential criteria of this type of application that the pension and/or other income necessary to qualify in the category must be readily transferrable to South Africa. This will need to be proved via the appropriate documents.
Applications for retired persons permits must be lodged in the country of usual residence of the applicant and at the nearest South African High Commission, Embassy or Consular Mission to where they normally reside. There is also a non-refundable application fee. To ensure the smooth flow of your application through the Consular offices of the South African government, it is necessary to ensure that your application is complete in all respects. In order to achieve this, there are certain basic guidelines and rules to follow. The first of these is that certain documentation has to be presented in original format. The documents falling into this category would be the following:
The application form, which must be completed and signed with a black pen;
The birth certificate;
The marriage certificate;
Police clearance certificate;
Medical report;
Radiological report;
Proof of income to substantiate your qualification in the retired persons permit.
The remainder of your documentation can be in copy or certified copy format, although it is advisable to perhaps sometimes take the originals with you and exhibit these to the Consular official or Home Office official upon lodgement of the application.
Obviously, your passport must also be presented together with the application, and it is advisable to take a copy of your passport indicating your personal and biographical data and also history of your entries and exits to and from South Africa. It is always advisable to make a copy of the entire application which you are lodging and keep this together with the receipt, which will be issued to you for the application. It is also important to take the exact amount of cash for payment to the Consular office or regional office of the Department of Home Affairs for the administrative fee for processing of the application. In the retired persons visa category this would be ZAR425. Always check with the Embassy or Consular office of the precise amount as the currency value may fluctuate on a global basis.
If all this sounds baffling, or you are concerned about your application making its way through the Department of Home Affairs in a timely manner, you can always enlist some professional immigration assistant.
Julian Pokroy is an immigration attorney and heads the Immigration and Refugee Law Specialist Committee of the Law Society of South Africa, the Law Society of the Northern Provinces and is a member of the Immigration Advisory Board to the Minister of Home Affairs from its inception.
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