The figure is R5 000 000, and it is not a guideline. It was determined by the Minister of Home Affairs in Government Notice 560, published in Government Gazette 37837 of 15 July 2014, under sections 15(1)(a) and 27(c) of the Immigration Act 13 of 2002, read with regulations 14(1)(a) and (2)(a) and 24(5)(a) and (b) of the Immigration Regulations 2014. The notice determines the amount in cash, originating from outside the Republic, to be invested in a business to be established or in an existing business in the Republic, to be R5 000 000,00. It then adds one further sentence that many applicants miss: "The capital contribution must be new machinery and or equipment."
That determination is still the operative one. The Department of Trade, Industry and Competition, whose recommendation the application depends on, continues to refer applicants to Gazette 37837 for the minimum investment amount.
Read the notice as two limbs, not one number
Regulations 14(1)(a) and 14(2)(a) let the certifying accountant confirm either that at least the determined amount in cash is available, or that at least the determined amount in cash and a capital contribution is available. Government Notice 560 sets the cash figure at R5 000 000 and restricts the capital contribution to new machinery and equipment. Second-hand plant, goodwill, an existing debtors book or the notional value of intellectual property are not what the notice describes.
Section 15(1)(b) of the Act adds a requirement that is easy to overlook: the contribution must form part of the intended book value of the business. It is not a deposit or a bond lodged with anyone. It has to end up on the balance sheet of the South African entity.
Regulation 14(3) adds two further items for a foreigner investing in a business to be established, or who has invested in an existing one: financial statements for the preceding financial year, and proof of the investment.
What the accountant certifies, and who may sign it
Regulation 14 requires a certificate or a factual finding report from one of three categories of practitioner: a chartered accountant registered with SAICA, a professional accountant registered with SAIPA, or a business accountant registered with the body the regulation names as the South African Institute for Business Accountants, which now operates as the Chartered Institute for Business Accountants (CIBA). The dtic asks separately for proof that the signing accountant is registered with one of those bodies, so the membership evidence is a document in its own right.
The report is not an audit and expresses no assurance. It is an agreed-upon procedures engagement performed under International Standard on Related Services 4400. CIBA's published guide for immigration accountants sets out the procedures and adds a restriction worth checking before you appoint anyone: a CIBA business accountant in practice must also hold a valid immigration accountant licence to issue these certificates.
The dtic lists the factual findings report, a written representation letter and the accountant's registration proof among its compulsory documents, alongside the source-of-funds records, and publishes standardised report templates.
The undertakings, including the 60 percent one
Where the business is not yet established, regulation 14(1)(b) requires an undertaking that at least 60 percent of the total staff complement to be employed in the operations of the business will be South African citizens or permanent residents, employed permanently in various positions. Proof of compliance must be submitted within 12 months of the visa being issued. Where the business already exists, regulation 14(2)(b) requires proof of that 60 percent position at the time of application rather than an undertaking.
Regulation 14(4) goes further than most checklists suggest. Within 12 months of the visa being issued, the applicant must submit to the Director-General a letter from the Department of Labour confirming a report on the 60 percent staffing undertaking referred to in section 15(1)(c)(ii) of the Act. That is a separate post-issue step, with its own deadline, and it is prescribed.
Alongside the staffing undertaking, regulation 14(1)(c) requires an undertaking to register with SARS, the Unemployment Insurance Fund, the Compensation Fund for Occupational Injuries and Diseases, the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission where legally required, and the relevant professional body, board or council recognised by SAQA where applicable. On registration, all certificates must be submitted to the Director-General. An established business must show proof of those registrations up front instead, under regulation 14(2)(c).
Both routes also require a police clearance certificate and a letter of recommendation from the trade and industry department on the feasibility of the business and its contribution to the national interest.
Reduction and waiver: what section 15(3) actually says
Section 15(3) provides that the Director-General may reduce or waive the financial or capital contribution for businesses which are prescribed to be in the national interest, or when so requested by the trade and industry department. The equivalent proviso for permanent residence sits in section 27(c)(i), and regulation 24(7) confirms that a business in a sector determined by the Minister by gazette notice is a business in the national interest.
The prescribing was done in Government Notice 562 of the same gazette. It determines the businesses to be in the national interest and therefore qualifying for reduction or waiver of the capitalisation requirements, and the list runs from (a) to (r): agro-processing; business process outsourcing and IT enabled services; capital and transport equipment, metals and electrical machinery; electro technical; textile, clothing and leather; consumer goods; boatbuilding; pulp, paper and furniture; automotives and components; green economy industries; advanced manufacturing; tourism; chemicals, plastic fabrication and pharmaceuticals; creative and design; oil and gas; mineral beneficiation; infrastructure development; and ICT. Each carries its own sub-categories.
Note the discrepancy. Several departmental and mission summary sheets circulate a much shorter set of eight sectors, among them crafts, tourism, and metals and minerals refinement. The gazette is the prescribed instrument. Where the two differ, work from the gazette and be ready to point to it.
Two things are not prescribed. First, the size of any reduction: no tariff or sliding scale is published. Second, an entitlement. Falling inside a listed sector opens the door to an application for a reduction or waiver, it does not create a right to one.
The businesses that cannot get a business visa at all
Section 15(1A) says no business visa may be issued or renewed in respect of any business undertaking listed as undesirable by the Minister. Government Notice 561 of Gazette 37837 lists three: businesses that import second-hand motor vehicles into South Africa for the purpose of exporting them to markets outside South Africa, the exotic entertainment industry, and the security industry.
A separate notice, Government Notice 563 in the same gazette, lists undesirable undertakings for corporate visas: exotic entertainment, the hospitality industry, fast-food outlets and franchises, and the cosmetic and beauty industry. Those four are frequently quoted online as though they blocked business visas. They do not. They apply to the corporate visa route.
The business plan question
Regulation 14 does not list a business plan among the documents for a business visa. Regulation 24(5)(a), which governs permanent residence under section 27(c) for an applicant intending to establish a business, does require a business plan outlining the feasibility of the business in both the short and the long term.
That does not make the business case optional. It moves into the dtic recommendation, which regulations 14(1)(e) and 14(2)(e) make compulsory and which turns on feasibility and national interest. Since 10 March 2025 those applications are made through the dtic's online Visa Recommendation System at vrs.thedtic.gov.za, which replaced the previous email-based process and covers first, extension and permanent residence recommendations. Check the document list on the portal before you build the pack: it is the dtic's list that governs, not a third-party checklist.
After the visa is issued
Section 15(4) requires the holder to prove, to the Director-General's satisfaction, that the contribution has been invested within 24 months of issue and within every two years thereafter. Regulation 14(5) caps the visa at three years at a time. Section 15(2) prohibits work other than work related to the business the visa was issued for.
For permanent residence under section 27(c), the permit lapses if the holder fails to prove, within two years of issue and three years thereafter, that the prescribed financial contribution is still invested as part of the intended book value.
Prescribed versus practice
Prescribed: the R5 000 000 amount, the machinery and equipment restriction, the accountant categories, the 60 percent ratio, the 12-month labour letter, the 24-month and two-yearly investment proofs, the three-year maximum validity, and both gazetted sector lists.
Not prescribed, and therefore variable: adjudication turnaround, the size of any reduction, and the application fee, which regulation 9(1)(f) requires but does not fix and which missions and facilitation centres set separately. Confirm the fee with the office handling your file rather than any figure quoted online, including here.
One structural caution. Regulation 14 frames the amount as one determined from time to time by the Minister by notice in the Gazette, so both the notices and the regulation can be replaced by a later gazette. Confirm the position before you commit funds.
What to do next
Work in this order. Confirm the sector against Government Notices 561 and 562 before anything else, because an undesirable listing ends the route. Then decide whether you are applying at full capitalisation or motivating for a reduction, since that decision changes the dtic submission. Brief a SAICA, SAIPA or CIBA practitioner early, because the factual findings report depends on traceable funds originating from outside South Africa. Prepare the dtic recommendation through the VRS portal, then assemble the Home Affairs pack on Form 8, the DHA-1738, with the medical and radiological reports required by regulation 9(1)(c) and a police clearance certificate. Under regulation 9(2) the application is lodged in person at a South African mission where you are ordinarily resident or hold citizenship, or at a mission designated by the Director-General for that country. Permanent residence applications use Form 18, the DHA-947.
Legalyze supports the administrative side of that sequence rather than the legal representation side. The Eligibility Check is free. Guided Application, from R5,500, covers pack preparation and a consistency review. Full-Service Coordination, from R8,500, covers end-to-end coordination, with referral to an admitted practitioner where reserved legal work arises. On the entity side, Private Company Registration is R880 for the standard option, and the registrations behind the regulation 14(1)(c) undertakings sit under PAYE, UIF, SDL and COIDA Registrations, from R890, with COIDA registration at R1,890 and PAYE, UIF and SDL registration with SARS at R2,490.
This is general information about the published requirements, not advice on any individual application. Whether a particular business, capital structure or sector qualifies is case-specific, and reserved legal work is referred to an admitted practitioner.