The Verdict: Need More Info
This turns on whether your business can win the trade department's recommendation. Draw up a business plan and seek the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition's recommendation first.
The business visa covers establishing or investing in a business with a capital contribution reported as around R5 million, set by ministerial notice, transferred from abroad and certified by a South African chartered accountant. You also undertake that at least 60 per cent of staff will be South African citizens or permanent residents.
The capital can be waived or reduced only for businesses prescribed to be in the national interest or at the trade department's request; it is not a general hardship discretion.
Permanent residence on the same basis lapses if you cannot show the capital is still invested two years after it is issued, and again three years after that. If the business is only a vehicle for residence, the net worth route, at around R12 million, has no such checks.
Citizenship is separate: five years' ordinary residence after permanent residence, with no year over 90 days abroad.