The Financially Independent Permit (FIP), the no.1 way for high net worth and businesspeople to obtain residency in South Africa and have security on their long term investments, is one of the ways of obtaining permanent residence status in South Africa. Once one has permanent residency (PR) status in SA, they can easily start up or invest in existing businesses, they have access to long-term loans for property purchases, favourable interest rates on bonds and other long-term loans, as well as access to long-term investments.
The application for the FIP can be made by any qualifying applicant who meets all the requirements FAQ . Such application can be made either through the South African Embassy/Mission or VFS Office (Visa Facilitation Services) in the foreigner’s country of origin, or through the local South African VFS Office if the applicant is already in South Africa on a long-term visa and qualifies for the FIP.
In a country where a foreigner must submit through the VFS Office (including local submissions), you will be dealing with VFS Office and not the Home Affairs Department directly. This therefore means that you have no direct contact with Home Affairs officials, the custodians of the Immigration laws and who can explain any uncertainties to you with clarity and precision. The VFS acts as the “middleman” between you and Home Affairs, which means that they are the only authority that you can have any direct contact with. This comes with a lot of challenges in that VFS Officials are not immigration officials, and sometimes information gets lost in translation, causing frustrations, anxiety, and loss of time with the back and forth before one can actually submit their application.
Challenges with the application process
Apart from the anxiety caused by the looming SA immigration law changes which seek to do away with permanent residency, the administrative burden of collating the documentation required for the FIP application is a painful and strenuous process that can lead one to giving up on their dream to migrate to South Africa or pursue their investment opportunities in the country.
The general assumption is that once one has all the required documents in terms of existing legislation, submitting the application is just a formality and will go smoothly. Ideally it is supposed to happen as such when one follows all the guidelines as per the checklists provided. However, in practice, applying for a permit is usually met with more than one send-off from the receiving officials, for additional documents or information. Usually these are not listed in the Immigration Regulations and checklists, further exasperating the process. Loss of money and time in this process can cause extreme frustration to the applicant.
In addition, the lengthy waiting period before one receives the outcome compounds the frustrations of the entire process as one can wait for up to 18 months before receiving the outcome of their application. One is lucky to receive a positive outcome after waiting for such a long period. In the event where the outcome is negative, the dreams of migrating to South Africa can be crushed because appealing a negative outcome can take anything up to twenty-four or thirty-six months. If one does not appeal the outcome, it means that they are re-submitting the application again, and waiting for another twelve to eighteen months for an outcome. Simply based on these timelines, this can be an extremely disheartening process.
With the looming law changes added to the already beaurocratic process, anxiety and stress overcomes many migrants, and for the high net worth individuals who qualify for the FIP, the risks on their long-term investments and business opportunities in South Africa becomes a reality – which is difficult to fathom.
How we can help you
Since dealing with the VFS Office takes away that direct link to Home Affairs for you as the applicant, and having to deal with a third-party, usually information gets lost or misinterpreted in translation causing so much confusion and frustration with the process. However, with NMS’s assistance, this burden is removed from you as we liaise with Home Affairs directly on your behalf, keeping you abreast on your application always and making every endeavour to have the outcome of your application within the processing timelines.
Useful tips:
Applying for the FIP from your home country (South African Mission/Embassy or VFS Office)
– Check if you meet all the requirements for the FIP
– Obtain certified valuation of your assets with a certified Chartered Accountant See Article
– Check which countries you need police clearance certificates from in order to start the process as these usually take the longest to obtain. You will require police clearance certificates from all countries you have stayed for a period of more than 12 months since your 18th birthday. Police clearance certificates are valid for six months.
– You can also get more guidelines from our Checklist
Applying for the FIP from within South Africa (VFS Office)
One may apply for the FIP from within South Africa if you hold a valid long-term visa. There are, however, conflicting views in this regard as other officials permit applicants to submit the application for the FIP within SA whilst on a tourist visa. The premise for this view is that the one does not necessarily need a temporary residence visa to apply for the FIP, unlike with all other permanent residence applications where you need to have a temporary residence visa first.
However, based on experience, the inconsistences and as we prefer to err on the side of caution to avoid unnecessary delays and possible rejections of applications, when submitting an application for an FIP in SA, we advise that you do so if you have a valid long-term visa.
Just ensure that your long-term visa is still valid for at least a minimum of 12 months to ensure that it does not expire during the processing of your application, thereby requiring to apply for an extension as one must always maintain valid legal status in SA until their permanent residence permit has been issued, despite the category you apply under.
