South Africa - Family & Partner - Life Partner Visa (Permanent Residency)

Where candidates wish to apply for spouse immigration or life-partner immigration as a permanent option, the key additional requirement is that the applicant must have been married to or in a life relationship with the sponsoring South African permanent resident or South African citizen for a period of approximately a year.
In addition, where candidates immigrating to South Africa are granted permanent residency, the applicant will need to demonstrate two years after the permit is issued that the relationship is still in existence. At this stage, a permanent resident’s permit can be revoked if evidence of this is not satisfactorily supplied.
After a total of five years, the permit will no longer be subject to the continued existence of the relationship and cannot be withdrawn because of a change in marital or relationship status.
Due to the fact that a permanent residency permit can take up to two years to issue a common practice is to apply for temporary residence whilst simultaneously applying for permanent resident status.