Moving to the UK from South Africa: Complete Guide

Visiting: a Visitor Visa, Not an Electronic Travel Authorisation

South Africa is on the Home Office visa national list, so South African citizens need a Standard Visitor visa for a short trip. The £20 electronic travel authorisation is for people who are not visa nationals, and it is not an option on a South African passport. A 6-month Standard Visitor visa costs £135, and longer-validity visitor visas cost £506 for 2 years, £903 for 5 years and £1,128 for 10 years. A decision usually takes 3 weeks.

Visa Routes for South African Nationals

UK Ancestry Visa

The UK Ancestry visa is the route most particular to South Africa, because South Africa is a Commonwealth country and a large number of South Africans have a British-born grandparent. It works differently from the sponsored routes:

• No job offer and no sponsor
• No minimum salary
• 5 years of permission, with any work allowed, paid or voluntary, employed or self-employed
• Leads to settlement after 5 years, or the visa can be extended for a further 5
• A partner and children can apply as dependants

To qualify you must be a Commonwealth citizen, be 17 or over, be able to support yourself without public funds, and be able to work and plan to work in the UK. The grandparent must have been born in the UK, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man, or born before 31 March 1922 in what is now Ireland, or born on a ship or aircraft registered in the UK or belonging to the UK government. Ancestry can be claimed through adoption, and where parents or grandparents were not married, but not through step-parents. The fee is £726, the earliest you can apply is 3 months before you travel, and a decision usually takes 3 weeks. You cannot switch into this visa from inside the UK.

Skilled Worker Visa

The Skilled Worker visa needs a UK employer with a sponsor licence, a certificate of sponsorship used within 3 months, a job at degree level (level 6 of the regulated qualifications framework) for a new application, and a salary of at least £41,700 a year or the going rate for the job, whichever is higher. Some applicants qualify at the lower £33,400 threshold. A job on the Immigration Salary List uses that lower threshold and a lower fee, but the full going rate for the job still applies: the old 20% salary discount ended with the shortage occupation list in April 2024. See the salary threshold guide.

The Youth Mobility Scheme Is Not Open to South Africans

South Africa is not on the Youth Mobility Scheme list. GOV.UK lists Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Korea at ages 18 to 35; Andorra, Iceland, Japan, Monaco, San Marino and Uruguay at ages 18 to 30; Hong Kong and Taiwan through a ballot; and British overseas citizens, British overseas territories citizens and British nationals (overseas) at ages 18 to 30. Indian nationals have a separate scheme. See the GOV.UK Youth Mobility page.

Spouse and Family Visa

The Spouse visa is for joining a partner who is a British citizen or has settlement. The UK-based sponsor must meet the £29,000 financial requirement. You will need an approved English test at A1 for the first application, because South Africa is not on the majority English-speaking list. The fee is £2,064 from outside the UK and a decision usually takes 12 weeks.

Tuberculosis Test: You Do Need One

South Africa is on the Home Office list of countries where a tuberculosis test is needed. The test applies if you are coming to the UK for 6 months or more, have lived in South Africa or another listed country for 6 months or more, and were living there within the last 6 months. It also applies to a fiancé, fiancée or proposed civil partner on a family visa, and to a Returning Resident visa, even for a shorter stay.

South Africa has clinics approved by the Home Office, so the test can be taken there; a test at a clinic that is not approved will not be accepted. The test is a chest x-ray, and children under 11 will not normally have one. The certificate is valid for 6 months from the date of the x-ray. GOV.UK publishes no price, because each clinic sets its own fee. Find your clinic on the GOV.UK tuberculosis test page.

English Language: a Test Is Required

English is one of South Africa's official languages and the language of much of its education, but South Africa is not on the Home Office list of majority English-speaking countries. Being widely spoken creates no exemption, and this is true at settlement as well as at the first application. South African applicants need an approved secure English language test, or a degree taught in English that UK ENIC confirms is equivalent to a UK degree — which many South Africans hold, so a separate test is often not needed, but the formal evidence still has to be produced. The Skilled Worker route needs level B2 for new applications made from 8 January 2026.

South African Document Requirements

Apostille

The Apostille Convention has been in force for South Africa since 30 April 1995, so South African public documents are apostilled rather than legalised through an embassy. Civil documents come from the Department of Home Affairs and are then apostilled by the Department of International Relations and Cooperation. For an Ancestry application you need the unabridged version of a birth certificate, because that is the version showing the parents' details; the abridged version does not.

Police Clearance

A police certificate is not needed for every route. Where the Home Office asks for one, have your fingerprints taken at a police station and send the form to the South African Police Service Criminal Record Centre in Pretoria. From outside South Africa, fingerprints can be taken at a South African embassy or consulate and sent on. GOV.UK publishes no fee or processing time for it. Check the GOV.UK criminal records checks guidance for how to apply from South Africa.

Proving the Family Chain for an Ancestry Application

An Ancestry application has to show the link from you to your UK-born grandparent with birth and marriage certificates at each step. Historical UK certificates come from the General Register Office.

Where You Apply in South Africa

You complete the application on GOV.UK, then book an appointment to give your fingerprints and photograph at a visa application centre. GOV.UK's find a visa application centre service lists South Africa under VFS Global, which publishes the centres, their addresses and their opening times. GOV.UK says you must apply for the visa before you can make an appointment, and that if you do not choose a centre a centre is chosen for you.

Processing Times

These are the published service standards for applications made outside the UK. They are the same wherever you apply from.

• Visitor visa: 3 weeks
• UK Ancestry visa: 3 weeks
• Skilled Worker and other work visas: 3 weeks
• Student visa: 3 weeks
• Partner, spouse, parent or child family visa: 12 weeks

A faster decision can be paid for: the priority service costs £500, and aims at 5 working days for most routes but 30 working days for family visas and citizenship. The super priority service costs £1,000 and is not available for citizenship applications. See our processing time guide.

What It Costs

UK visa fees are set in pounds sterling and are the same wherever you apply from. Money held in rand is converted using the exchange rate published by OANDA for the date of the application.

• Standard Visitor visa: £135 for 6 months
• UK Ancestry visa: £726
• Skilled Worker visa from outside the UK: £819 for up to 3 years, £1,618 for more than 3 years
• Student visa: £558
• Family visa as a partner: £2,064 from outside the UK
• Healthcare surcharge: £1,035 a year, or £776 a year for students, their dependants and under-18s. On a 5-year Ancestry visa that is £5,175
• Settlement: £3,226 for each person
• British citizenship: £1,709 to apply plus a £130 ceremony fee, £1,839 in total
• English test and tuberculosis test: GOV.UK publishes no price for either. Test providers and approved clinics set their own fees.

For a full breakdown, see our UK visa fees guide.

What the Healthcare Surcharge Buys

Paying the immigration health surcharge does not make the National Health Service free. It puts you on the same footing as a UK resident, so you then pay what a resident pays. In England that means £9.90 for each prescription item and dental charges of £27.90, £76.60 or £332.10 depending on the treatment. Prescriptions are free in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Shipping Your Belongings

Transfer of Residence relief can remove the duty and import VAT on personal belongings you bring with you. GOV.UK's transfer of residence guidance sets the conditions: you must have lived outside the UK for at least 12 months in a row, the goods must have been in your possession for at least 6 months before the move, they must be imported within 12 months of your arrival, and they cannot be lent, hired out or sold within 12 months of the move.

First Steps After Arrival

• Set up or sign in to your UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) account and check your online immigration status. There is no card to collect: biometric residence permits stopped being issued at the end of 2024. To prove your status to an employer or a landlord you generate a share code, which lasts 90 days
• Apply for a National Insurance number
• Register with a GP
• Open a UK bank account
• Register for council tax with your local council in England, Scotland or Wales. Northern Ireland has domestic rates instead, collected by Land and Property Services
• Check what you can do with your South African driving licence using the GOV.UK exchange a non-GB driving licence tool

Voting as a Commonwealth Citizen

South Africa is a Commonwealth country, and the rules are not the same across the UK. In England and Northern Ireland a Commonwealth citizen who has permission to enter or stay in the UK, or who does not need it, can register to vote. In Scotland and Wales any foreign national with permission to enter or stay can register for Scottish Parliament, Senedd and local elections, so the Commonwealth question does not arise there.

Path to Settlement and Citizenship

The UK Ancestry and Skilled Worker routes both lead to settlement, also called indefinite leave to remain, after 5 years. It costs £3,226 for each person and a decision usually takes up to 6 months. You need the Life in the UK test and English at level B1 — South Africa is not exempt from the English requirement — rising to B2 from 26 March 2027 on the Skilled Worker, Global Talent, Scale-up and Long Residence routes. After 12 months with settlement you can apply for British citizenship for £1,709 plus a £130 ceremony fee.

Under the South African Citizenship Act, an adult South African who voluntarily acquires another citizenship loses South African citizenship unless retention has been granted by the Department of Home Affairs beforehand. That is a question for the South African authorities, not the Home Office, and nothing in UK law stops you applying. Check your position with the Department of Home Affairs, or the South African High Commission in London, before you apply.

Next Steps

For official information, visit GOV.UK and the GOV.UK Ancestry visa page.

Related guides:

• Ancestry visa: complete guide
• Skilled Worker visa: complete guide
• Youth Mobility Scheme: complete guide
• UK visa fees: complete breakdown
• Settlement: complete guide

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