Relative Visa
South Africa Section (18)

What Is the Relatives Visa and Who Does Section 18 Cover?

Section 18 of the Immigration Act 13 of 2002 grants the Director-General authority to issue a relatives visa to a foreign national who is an immediate family member of a South African citizen or permanent resident. The anchor — the SA citizen or PR holder — must provide prescribed financial assurance. The applicant must fall within one of five qualifying relationship categories.

Not all five categories carry the same rights. The category you fall into determines your working rights, whether you can apply from inside South Africa, your fee liability, and whether a permanent residence pathway exists.

The five qualifying categories

• Spouse or life partner of an SA citizen or permanent resident
• Minor child (under 18) of an SA citizen or permanent resident
• Major child (18 or older) of an SA citizen or permanent resident
• Parent of an SA citizen or permanent resident
• Sibling of an SA citizen or permanent resident

   

Citizen vs permanent resident — who qualifies as the anchor

Both South African citizens and holders of a permanent residence permit can act as the qualifying anchor. The anchor must be ordinarily resident in South Africa. This distinction matters downstream: a parent applying for permanent residence under Section 27(g) faces different restrictions depending on whether the anchor is a citizen or a permanent resident who themselves obtained PR via Section 27(g) – the chain rule applies in the latter case.

Adopted children, stepchildren, and half-siblings — what the law allows

Not every family relationship falls within Section 18. The Immigration Regulations 2014, read with the Act, draw a clear line between judicially recognised relationships and informal ones.

Stepchildren are not covered by Section 18 under any circumstances. A stepchild cannot obtain a relatives visa on the basis of a parent’s marriage to a South African citizen.

Who can apply from inside South Africa

Most applicants must apply from outside South Africa at a South African embassy or consulate. The in-country exception under Regulation 9(9)(a) applies to a narrower group.

Eligible to apply from inside South Africa (provided they hold a valid visitor’s visa at the time of application):

• Spouses and life partners of SA citizens or permanent residents
• Children of SA citizens or permanent residents

   

An applicant who does not fall into one of these categories must depart South Africa and apply from abroad.

PR pathways by relationship type

This is one of the most practically important distinctions for the relatives visa. The category determines whether a permanent residence route exists at all.

Siblings can renew a relative’s visa indefinitely while the qualifying relationship subsists. But the visa cannot be converted into permanent residence under any section of the Immigration Act.

Relatives Visa Requirements — Documents You Must Submit

Every Section 18 application has two layers of documentation: a universal set required across all categories and category-specific proof of kinship. Incomplete kinship documentation is the most common reason applications are delayed or refused. The qualifying anchor — not the applicant — must demonstrate financial capacity of at least R8,500 per month per applicant.

Universal documents required for all applicants:

• Valid passport (certified copy is acceptable; must expire no less than 30 days after intended departure)
• Unabridged birth certificate
• Medical report (not older than 6 months at time of submission)
• Police clearance certificate (required for all applicants aged 18 and older — see below)
• Proof of financial assurance from the qualifying anchor — minimum R8,500 per month per applicant
• Marriage certificate or life partnership documentation where applicable

   

Proof of kinship — what DHA accepts per relationship category

The documents DHA requires to confirm kinship differ by category. Submitting the wrong document type, or submitting a secondary document in place of the primary one, creates unnecessary delays.

Where the kinship involves adoption, the adoption order or certificate must be submitted. For any relationship requiring a paternity determination, DHA may require paternity test results.

Police clearance certificates — which countries and when

Police clearance certificates (PCCs) are required from every country where the applicant has lived for 12 months or longer for the last 5 years, including South Africa itself. Certificates must not be older than 6 months at the time of submission.

• Required: all countries of residence for 12+ months for the last 5 years
• Age threshold: applicants 18 and older only
• Validity: certificates must be dated within 6 months of submission date
• Directive 5 of 2023 updated the radiological and police clearance framework — The radiological report is no longer needed.

   

If your PCC is issued in a language other than English, a certified translation must accompany it.

Financial support threshold — R8,500/month and how to prove it

The R8,500 per month financial assurance figure is the prescribed minimum set by the Minister by notice in the Gazette, as required under regulation 17(2). The obligation falls on the anchor — the SA citizen or PR holder — not on the applicant.

Accepted forms of proof:

• Certified bank statements (3 months, not older than 3 months at time of application)
• Current salary advice (payslip)

   

The threshold applies per applicant. A family submitting two applications simultaneously must demonstrate financial capacity for each person separately. The financial assurance requirement is waived where the SA citizen or permanent resident is a dependent child — confirmed in Regulation 17(2).

Relatives visa fees by category — who pays and who does not

Spouses, life partners, and minor children of SA citizens or permanent residents are exempt from the visa application fee. All other categories pay the standard DHA fee.

Fee amounts are subject to DHA revision. Confirm the current fee schedule with VFS or the relevant South African embassy before submitting your application.

Can you work on a relative’s visa in South Africa?

The relatives visa does not automatically grant working rights. Section 18(2) of the Immigration Act states plainly: “The holder of a relative’s visa may not conduct work.” A narrow exception now exists following Rayment v Minister of Home Affairs [2023] ZACC 40 — but it applies only to parents of SA citizen or permanent resident children, and its practical implementation by the DHA remains inconsistent.

Do not treat the Rayment exception as settled administrative practice. The Constitutional Court’s reading-in created a legal right. It has not yet translated uniformly into a DHA endorsement process. The gap between what the law now says and what DHA routinely annotates on a visa document is real, and it matters in practice.

Who qualifies for the Rayment working rights exception

The Court’s reading-in at paragraph 5.2 of the Rayment judgment deems Section 18(2) to include a working rights carve-out. All three conditions must be met simultaneously:

• The South African citizen or permanent resident is a child
• The foreigner is a parent of that child
• The foreigner is currently fulfilling, or demonstrates an intention to fulfil, their parental responsibilities to that child

   

If any one of the three conditions is not met, the exception does not apply. The exception is limited to parents. It does not extend to spouses, siblings, adult children on a relative’s visa, or any other category.

Does the DHA endorsement annotation make the exception self-executing?

This is the most practically significant question parents face after Rayment 

The Court’s reading-in operates as a matter of law: Section 18(2) is deemed to include the working rights exception from the date of the judgement. But DHA processing does not automatically annotate an existing relative’s visa to reflect that change. A parent holding a relative’s visa issued before the Rayment judgement, or issued after it without the working rights endorsement, is in a difficult position with an employer who needs to verify the entitlement.

In practice, a parent who qualifies under the three Rayment conditions needs to apply to have the working rights endorsement annotation added to their visa. Without the annotation, an employer cannot confirm the entitlement from the visa document itself.

This is an area of active administrative uncertainty. Anyone in this position should obtain professional assistance before relying on the Rayment exception in an employment context.

Does the working rights exception cover self-employment?

The Rayment reading at paragraph 5.2 uses the phrase “shall be allowed to work in the Republic” without qualification or definition. It does not address self-employment, freelance work, or business ownership specifically.

The safer interpretation, pending further DHA guidance or litigation, is that the endorsement annotation should specify the scope of working rights permitted. Anyone seeking to operate a business or work on a freelance basis while on a relative’s visa should not assume the Rayment exception covers that activity. Specific legal or professional advice is required before doing so.

Consequences of working without authorisation

Working on a relative’s visa without the Rayment-derived endorsement is a violation of the Immigration Act. The consequences are serious and extend beyond the current visa.

• Deportation and declaration as an undesirable person under Section 30 of the Act
• Criminal liability
• Future visa refusal
• Negative impact on any pending or future PR application