6/12/23, 11:07 AM Critical Skills Visa (South Africa) - IITPSA

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Critical Skills Visa (South Africa)
Note: In order to be able to assist you with written confirmation of your meeting the criteria of one or more
skills listed on the currently gazetted critical skills list, please note that you must submit the following
information/ documentation: Qualifications/Certifications (Certified), Transcripts (Certified), SAQA
(Certified – and with online verification link, if available), signed SAQA verification consent form,
Current/Updated CV (Resume), 2 X Employer Letters (Certified), Passport (Certified) and stated
Critical Skill(s).
If we do not have these we can not begin the Assessment process.

IITPSA reserves the right to verify the authenticity of any documents submitted to it in the course of any
application for membership or critical skills assessment.

The revised South African Critical Skills list was published on 2 February 2022.
–
IITPSA (Institute of Information Technology Professionals South Africa), previously Computer Society South
Africa (CSSA,) is a South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) recognised professional body for the ICT
profession.
–
In order to be able to assist you with written confirmation of your meeting the criteria of one or more skills
listed on the currently gazetted critical skills list, you please need to take note of the following:

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–
1.  Documentation:
–
Documents to be submitted to IITPSA

a. Certified copies of: (A certified copy of a document is one which has been stamped, signed and
dated to confirm that it is a true copy of the original by an authorised person)

• Degree / diploma qualifications (Letters of completion will not be accepted)

• Detailed academic transcripts for the qualifications submitted under point (i) above
• Vendor / Industry certifications (e.g. ITIL, Cisco, Microsoft, Oracle, IBM, CompTIA, etc.) – If applicable.
See Note below.

SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS IN RESPECT OF FOREIGN QUALIFICATIONS

Applicants presenting qualifications obtained from foreign (non-South African) educational institutions
must submit:

a South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) Certificate of Evaluation (SCoE) of foreign educational

qualification in respect of each of the educational qualifications submitted to IITPSA to meet the

Academic Achievement (AA) component of the membership / professional designation application (see:

https://www.saqa.org.za/evaluation-foreign-qualifications)

a certified translation into English of the degree certificate and related transcripts if the originals are not

written in English.

Notes:

Each individual applicant (qualification holder) is responsible for obtaining a SAQA Certificate of

Evaluation for each foreign qualification submitted to IITPSA

Foreign qualifications presented to IITPSA which are not accompanied by such a SAQA Certificate of

Evaluation will not be taken into account for the application

IITPSA verifies with SAQA the authenticity of each and every SAQA Certificate of Evaluation presented

to it. Applicants are strongly advised to request a PrivySeal link for each SAQA Certificate of Evaluation

issued to them, as this will minimise delays due to the required verification process. If this is not

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available, the applicant must also submit a signed SAQA verification consent form.

Note: Vendor / Industry certifications will only be accepted where there is clear evidence that the
certifications have been issued on the basis of assessment and or testing of the applicant. The
applicant will also be required to provide the relevant secure online access for IITPSA to verify the 
studies undertaken and certifications awarded. Certificates showing only “Completion” or “Attendance”
will not be accepted.

–
b. Your recent, updated resumé (curriculum vitae). Note that we need to understand the detailed
content (especially ICT content) and actual duration of each job / position held, so please ensure that
each one includes an explicit start date and end date in the format MM/YYYY. (Please also refer to no. 8
Post-Qualification Experience below for more information regarding your professional experience)
–
c. A selection of up to three critical skills that you believe applies to you. (Note that if you do not
stipulate this, the assessment cannot be done). – Please click here for an extract of the critical skills per
the latest government gazette. Use this to indicate the critical skill(s) which you wish to be assessed
against. – Please note that a maximum of three Critical Skill(s) will be accepted for assessment.
–
d. Two Reference / Testimonial letters from current / previous employers attesting to your
particular skills and competencies (related to the relevant claimed critical skill).  (by way of
explanation: We require two employer letters on a company letterhead so that we can corroborate the
information provided in your CV or Resumé. Duplicate letters signed by different signatories will be
treated as a single letter. Letters written on plain paper will not be accepted. If you have only worked for
one company, or have worked for your a company for at least five years, then a single letter will be
accepted. The minimum information we need is: The date that you started working for the company,
your job description, the date you left the company (or confirmation that you are still employed if you are
still working for the company).  Testimonials, Relieving Letters and Reference Letters are also
acceptable. Employer letters are not forwarded to the authorities, but they are referred to in your
Certificate).
–
e. Proof of payment of applicable fees. (This means the membership and registration fees, if not
already a member of the Institute, as well as the Critical Skills application / assessment fee).
Click here to see the current fees schedule.

–
f. Copy of your passport. Please confirm your names correctly as per the sequence in your passport

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(First name, Middle names, Last name (Surname)).

–

2.  Duration and costs:

Please allow approximately three to four weeks for your critical skills submission to be assessed.

Note, however, that if the required documents and information and a digital SAQA evaluation

certificate (where necessary) are not submitted timeously, this could further prolong the process.

Requests to Expedite a Critical Skills Assessment: We wish to advise that the Institute has been

receiving a very high volume of applications for Critical Skills assessments, which is placing huge

pressures on IITPSA staff and Assessors alike.   Applications are usually processed in the order in

which they are received (assuming that all required documentation has been presented and is in

order). We do not, unfortunately, have any additional resources to process expedited requests and

are therefore unable to do so.

Please click here for the non-refundable fee for a critical skills assessment, payable on application

for assessment.

3.  Membership Application / Registration:

–

If you are not a registered member of IITPSA and you have not yet submitted an application for registration,
you will also need to:

Complete the online application form (see https://www.iitpsa.org.za/index.php/join-the-iitpsa-in-easy-

steps/ ) and indicate that you are applying for a critical skills work visa (you can simply enter the

words “Critical Skills Visa” in the field on the form which asks “How did you hear about IITPSA?”).

Pay the first year’s registration / membership fee (for an individual: Application / Registration fee (non-

refundable) + Annual Membership fee for first year) for the latest membership fees please click here.

If you are applying simultaneously for IITPSA membership and for the assessment the total cost

would be (CSA Fee + Application / Registration Fee (non-refundable) + Current Membership fees).

–
4.  Progress updates:
–

Please note that our processes do not allow for progress updates during the assessment process and
we cannot provide you with any.
–

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5.  Critical Skills Assessment Certificates:

–

Successful applicants for critical skills assessment will receive two original copies of the written
confirmation from the Institute (IITPSA), bearing the embossed seal of the Institute. One of the originals
will need to accompany your application to the relevant embassy / consulate / office of the Department
of Home Affairs. These written confirmations will be posted by normal (non-trackable) post to the
applicant. Should the applicant wish to make use of special postal services (e.g. courier), this will need
to be arranged by the applicant, and any additional costs are for the applicant’s own account. Please
note that, for security reasons, scanned copies of critical skills confirmation certificates will not
be issued under any circumstances whatsoever.
–

6.  Disclaimer
–

It is important to note that the provision of such a written confirmation of critical skills by the Institute
(IITPSA) does not provide any guarantee whatsoever of a Critical Skills Work Visa or Permanent
Residence Permit being issued by the South African Department of Home Affairs and the IITPSA gives
no such assurances.
–

7.  Pre-assessment:
–

We very much regret that we are unable to provide such a service at this time, mainly due to the volume
of requests for paid assessments that we are receiving, but also because the time taken to pre-assess
an application is very similar to the time taken to prepare a full assessment
–

8.  Post-Qualification Experience:

–

“Post-Qualification Experience” (as the name suggests) is relevant and appropriate professional
experience that you have gained since you finished your studies. It does not include any experience you
may have gained while you were still attending an educational institution. Even if you are working
towards your qualification part-time, our membership rules require us to subtract the equivalent for the
period of your qualification as if it were studied on a full-time basis from your professional experience. It
is also a Regulatory Requirement that we calculate and confirm your post-qualification experience in
your Critical Skills Certificate.
–
The minimum period of post-qualification experience for which we will issue a CSA Certificate is twenty
four months.This is based on the experience of five years which was required by the Department of
Home Affairs for the Scarce Skills Visa (which preceded the Critical Skills Visa). It is also based on the
feedback from Critical Skills Visas applicants with less than two years experience whose application has

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been rejected by DoHA because of insufficient experience.

–
Therefore, to be eligible for a Critical Skills Certificate, it is our considered opinion that an applicant will
probably qualify as an Associate Member of the IITPSA, and will also have at least 24 months post-
qualification experience.
–
We do not provide Critical Skills Certificates to Students Members since, as students, it is unlikely
they will have sufficient post-qualification experience. Therefore Student Members will need to
apply for a membership re-grade before we consider processing a Critical Skills Visa application.

If you are an existing IITPSA member, click here to apply for a critical skills assessment.

If you are a new applicant, click here to apply for IITPSA membership and a Critical Skills assessment.
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