Before you start

A passport valid at least 30 days beyond your intended departure with two or more blank pages
A route you actually fit: a listed occupation, a signed South African job offer, or documented foreign income
Police clearance certificates from every country you lived in for 12 months or more since turning 18
A SAQA evaluation of your qualifications and professional-body registration where required

Step-by-step

1
Check the Critical Skills List, then price the alternative
The October 2024 list is weighted towards ICT, engineering, data and specialist health occupations, generally at NQF level 7 or above, and a match is awarded the full 100 points with no labour-market test. Durban's shortage occupations skew towards marine and mechanical engineering, supply-chain and industrial disciplines, so check the specific gazetted wording against your job title. If you do not match, a General Work Visa needs 100 points assembled from qualification, salary, experience, language and employer standing.
OnlineWho: You, with an immigration practitioner and your employerOne to two weeks
2
Work out where your consular appointments will physically happen
All embassies and high commissions are in Pretoria; a limited set of countries run a consulate-general in Durban and rather more in Johannesburg and Cape Town. Before you commit to a document timeline, check whether your own country has consular representation in Durban at all, because if it does not, every certified copy, notarisation or passport renewal is a flight or an eight-hour drive. This surprises people who assumed a city of four million would have the full diplomatic apparatus.
OnlineWho: You, with your own country's foreign ministryOne afternoon of checking, saved months later
3
Order SAQA and police clearances early, and courier them
SAQA evaluates foreign qualifications from Pretoria and takes four to twelve weeks. A South African police clearance is issued only by the SAPS Criminal Record Centre at Bothongo Plaza West, 271 Francis Baard Street, Pretoria, at R190 — fingerprint-based, so it cannot be completed online, and applications can be couriered. SAPS quotes roughly fifteen working days from receipt of a complete application; plan for longer. Foreign clearances have to be ordered from each country where you spent a year or more.
OnlineWho: You, by courier; SAQA; SAPS Criminal Record CentreSAQA 4-12 weeks; SA police clearance from about 15 working days plus courierSAQA R2,361 for the first qualification (R988 for each additional one); SAPS police clearance R190; courier from about R150 each way
4
Get South African documents legalised for use abroad
Apostilles and authentications on South African public documents are done by DIRCO's legalisation section in the OR Tambo Building, Rietondale, Pretoria. It has not accepted walk-in submissions since May 2021 and works by courier, with a covering letter naming the destination country so it knows whether an Apostille or a Certificate of Authentication applies. From Durban this is straightforwardly a courier job; agents in Pretoria will run it faster for a fee.
OnlineWho: You, or a legalisation agent, by courierTypically 1-3 weeks by courierNo DIRCO fee for the Apostille; courier and agent fees vary
5
Submit abroad, then rely on the standing concession while you wait
Long-term applications are lodged in person with biometrics at the South African mission or VFS Global centre serving your country of residence. Durban has a VFS centre for in-country matters, but switching status from inside South Africa is narrow and should not be the plan. Immigration Directive No. 7 of 2026, issued on 30 March 2026, keeps applicants with pending waiver, long-term visa and appeal applications lawful from 1 April 2026 to 30 June 2027 — fifteen months, far longer than the usual extensions. It reaches only applications lodged through VFS Global with a verifiable tracking receipt, and it does not cover pending permanent-residence applications.
In personWho: You, at VFS Global or a South African missionSix to ten weeks quoted; often several months in practiceDHA fee roughly R425-R1,520 plus a VFS service fee around R1,550

Documents you’ll need

Passport valid 30+ days beyond departure with blank pages
Police clearance certificates from every country of residence since age 18
SAQA evaluation of foreign qualifications and professional-body registration where required
Medical report under six months old, and a radiological report for some categories
Employment contract and employer letters, or evidence of foreign income for the Remote Work Visa

Things most newcomers don’t know

Every embassy and high commission in South Africa is in Pretoria, and only a limited set of countries maintains a consulate-general in Durban. Consular services you assumed would be local frequently are not.

A passport renewal, a notarisation, a certified copy for your home authorities or a birth registration for a child born here can each require a physical appointment. If your country has no Durban post, that is a 600 km drive or a flight per appointment, and appointment slots in Pretoria are often weeks out. Check this before your passport gets thin, not after.

Source: DIRCO diplomatic and consular listings

South African police clearances come from one office in the entire country — the SAPS Criminal Record Centre in Pretoria — and because the certificate is fingerprint-based, no part of it can be done online.

People expect to walk into a local police station and receive a certificate. What a local station gives you is a fingerprint impression on the correct form; the certificate itself is issued centrally, at R190, with SAPS quoting about fifteen working days from receipt of a complete application. From Durban, that means budgeting courier time at both ends and starting well before any deadline.

Source: SAPS — applying for a police clearance certificate

The current Home Affairs concession is unusually long. Immigration Directive No. 7 of 2026 protects applicants with pending waiver, long-term visa and appeal applications from 1 April 2026 to 30 June 2027 — but explicitly not those with pending permanent-residence applications, who must keep their temporary status valid on their own.

Without it, an expiring visa mid-process forces people to leave the country and start again. With it, your VFS tracking receipt is what keeps you lawful — and only a VFS-lodged application counts. The exclusion catches anyone who assumed a pending permanent-residence application would hold their status open; it does not, and a temporary visa still has to be renewed underneath it.

Source: DHA Immigration Directive No. 7 of 2026 (30 March 2026)

The 90-day visitor's stamp permits no work of any kind, including remote work for a foreign employer — the Immigration Act does not draw the distinction people assume between local and foreign-paid work.

Durban's cost of living and warm winters make it a natural soft landing for remote workers, and plenty arrive intending to 'try it for three months' while working. Being found working on a visitor's visa is a status violation that can produce an overstay declaration and an entry ban, which then poisons every later application. The Remote Work Visa exists to make exactly this lawful.

Source: Immigration Act 13 of 2002; Department of Home Affairs

Common mistakes to avoid

Assuming your country has consular representation in Durban — most do not, and every appointment then becomes a trip to Pretoria or Johannesburg.
Expecting a local police station to issue a police clearance certificate; only the SAPS Criminal Record Centre in Pretoria does, and it is fingerprint-based.
Driving or couriering documents to DIRCO expecting a counter — legalisation has been courier-only since 2021 and needs a covering letter naming the destination country.
Working remotely on the free 90-day stamp because the money is foreign; the Act does not recognise the distinction and the consequences follow you.
Assuming a pending permanent-residence application keeps your status alive — the standing concession expressly excludes PR applicants, who must keep a valid temporary visa running underneath.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.