Belgian guy engaged to a South African girl
Hpn New member
|4POSTS
Hello,
I am a Belgian guy engaged to a South African girl. I'm trying to figure out how I have to arrange my move to South Africa in the best possible way but my head is spinning of all the different kind of information I get. Even official authorities keep giving me different info and the contactperson of the SA embassy in Brussels is arrogant and not really a help, can't even ask questions cause she is the one talking and I only have to listen according to her. Unfortunately I don't know if I can believe all what she is saying cause she is always comparing with her move to Belgium 10 years ago. Erm... I'm not moving to Belgium, right?!
I've read a lot of interesting things on this forum, but it also got me confused
Because first I read about the old law where you could apply for a permit being in SA, then I read that post of Joachim about the new law where you can't apply in SA anymore but only in your country of residence, but then I still see people posting that they applied in SA.
Anyway, let me quickly talk about my situation:
I'm going back to South Africa beginning of September and would like to stay there permanently then. I'm engaged with a SA girl, we marry in SA on 25/01/2014 and I also already bought a house and a car in SA. Since I was still living in Belgium we weren't officialy living together yet, I only stayed at her place when I visited her.
According to that woman of the SA embassy in Brussels this would be the problem to apply for a permit when being still in Belgium. I can give them all necesaary documents (you know the drill, medical, police, ...), but I'm not married yet neither did we live officialy together yet. So according to this woman they won't grant me a permit. According to her I first have to go back to SA with my international passport (as a Belgian I can stay 90 days without Visa and extend it with another 90 days) and since I will be there "permanently" then I will be able to prove that we are living together officialy. First I will stay with her at her rented place, but as soon as we can move to the house I bought of course we will move to the house, this will probably be the case in October.
So my questions are:
- Is it true I won't stand a chance applying for a permit in Belgium?
- If that is the case, can I apply for a permit in SA (so what about that new law Joachim was talking about?)
- If I travel without a permit as a "tourist" I would need a returnticket. This is a bit ridiculous since I want to stay in SA with my fiancee and I'm not planning to return if it's not necessary. Is there another way?
- If it's possible to apply in SA, what is best for me to do? Apply already before marriage for a Life Partner Permit or to wait until after our marriage? If I extend my first 90 days with the extra 90 days I could stay until after the date of marriage anyway. Or any other suggestions?聽
My only concern is not get into trouble to enter SA or having problems when being in SA. So how do I have to arrange it?
Thank you already for who can give me the right information
I am a Belgian guy engaged to a South African girl. I'm trying to figure out how I have to arrange my move to South Africa in the best possible way but my head is spinning of all the different kind of information I get. Even official authorities keep giving me different info and the contactperson of the SA embassy in Brussels is arrogant and not really a help, can't even ask questions cause she is the one talking and I only have to listen according to her. Unfortunately I don't know if I can believe all what she is saying cause she is always comparing with her move to Belgium 10 years ago. Erm... I'm not moving to Belgium, right?!
I've read a lot of interesting things on this forum, but it also got me confused
Because first I read about the old law where you could apply for a permit being in SA, then I read that post of Joachim about the new law where you can't apply in SA anymore but only in your country of residence, but then I still see people posting that they applied in SA.Anyway, let me quickly talk about my situation:
I'm going back to South Africa beginning of September and would like to stay there permanently then. I'm engaged with a SA girl, we marry in SA on 25/01/2014 and I also already bought a house and a car in SA. Since I was still living in Belgium we weren't officialy living together yet, I only stayed at her place when I visited her.
According to that woman of the SA embassy in Brussels this would be the problem to apply for a permit when being still in Belgium. I can give them all necesaary documents (you know the drill, medical, police, ...), but I'm not married yet neither did we live officialy together yet. So according to this woman they won't grant me a permit. According to her I first have to go back to SA with my international passport (as a Belgian I can stay 90 days without Visa and extend it with another 90 days) and since I will be there "permanently" then I will be able to prove that we are living together officialy. First I will stay with her at her rented place, but as soon as we can move to the house I bought of course we will move to the house, this will probably be the case in October.
So my questions are:
- Is it true I won't stand a chance applying for a permit in Belgium?
- If that is the case, can I apply for a permit in SA (so what about that new law Joachim was talking about?)
- If I travel without a permit as a "tourist" I would need a returnticket. This is a bit ridiculous since I want to stay in SA with my fiancee and I'm not planning to return if it's not necessary. Is there another way?
- If it's possible to apply in SA, what is best for me to do? Apply already before marriage for a Life Partner Permit or to wait until after our marriage? If I extend my first 90 days with the extra 90 days I could stay until after the date of marriage anyway. Or any other suggestions?聽
My only concern is not get into trouble to enter SA or having problems when being in SA. So how do I have to arrange it?
Thank you already for who can give me the right information
See also
- Traveling to South Africa - Guide
- Any born and raised South Africans who could help me with vocab? - 1 Reply
- South African marrying a British citizen - 6 Replies
- Enrolling for PhD in South African Universites - 3 Replies
- Becoming a south african and working - 7 Replies
- The other side of the South African postcard - 1 Reply
- South Africans - I need your help - 3 Replies
stu12344 Member
|12POSTS
Hpn New member
|4POSTS
Thanx for your answer Stu!
Applying in Belgium before I leave would be most easy and most fast. But like I said, every time I phone or mail I get that same arrogant contactperson that made it clear they won't grant me anything without being married or living together. It's a bit difficult to already live together if you still have to move of course... And that's just what we want to do now, live together in our house and getting married. But apparently it's better to get married fast just for the聽 papers than to do it for the right reasons and in the right way. Guess we are too romantic
So indeed the plan was to go with my international passport now for 3 months, and then extend it overthere for another 3 months. Then I could still see wether to apply before or after marriage, cuz those 6 months were long enough to stay until after marriage. But now somebody of Home Affairs emailed me the law will change within 2 weeks and I won't be able to extend my 90 days anymore...
Speaking of your option 3. If you know somebody capable, please do tell me. I've been in contact with some companies and lawyers and everry time I wondered if they knew what they were talking about. They all were telling different things
If I have to buy a returnticket anyway another option is to go now for 3 months, return for a short while to Belgium again and do my apllication in Belgium in this short period cuz then I will be able to proof that we are already living together in SA.
Anyway, going to contact the SA embassy again next week and demand somebody else to talk to, not that terrible woman
Grz
Applying in Belgium before I leave would be most easy and most fast. But like I said, every time I phone or mail I get that same arrogant contactperson that made it clear they won't grant me anything without being married or living together. It's a bit difficult to already live together if you still have to move of course... And that's just what we want to do now, live together in our house and getting married. But apparently it's better to get married fast just for the聽 papers than to do it for the right reasons and in the right way. Guess we are too romantic
So indeed the plan was to go with my international passport now for 3 months, and then extend it overthere for another 3 months. Then I could still see wether to apply before or after marriage, cuz those 6 months were long enough to stay until after marriage. But now somebody of Home Affairs emailed me the law will change within 2 weeks and I won't be able to extend my 90 days anymore...
Speaking of your option 3. If you know somebody capable, please do tell me. I've been in contact with some companies and lawyers and everry time I wondered if they knew what they were talking about. They all were telling different things
If I have to buy a returnticket anyway another option is to go now for 3 months, return for a short while to Belgium again and do my apllication in Belgium in this short period cuz then I will be able to proof that we are already living together in SA.
Anyway, going to contact the SA embassy again next week and demand somebody else to talk to, not that terrible woman
Grz
ImmigrationSouthAfrica Serial expat
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Hpn New member
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