Permanent residence by financial independence

Section 27(g) of the Immigration Act 13 of 2002 provides for permanent residence to be granted to a foreign national 'who has the prescribed financial assets'. The Immigration Regulations, 2014 set the prescribed assets at a net worth of R12 million and require payment of a non-refundable application fee of R120,000.

The route is structurally distinct from the other PR pathways. It requires no prior temporary residence in South Africa, no employment, no qualifying spouse, and no five-year continuity proof. The applicant qualifies on net worth alone.

Section 27(g) is the only PR route used systematically by foreign nationals who do not relocate to South Africa — applicants who want SA permanent residence as an investment-linked secondary residence rather than as a path to relocation. The status confers full work, residence and travel rights but does not require physical presence in SA except for the application submission and (typically) the issuance ceremony.

The prescribed net worth is R12 million, calculated as total assets minus total liabilities. The threshold is set by regulation and has not been adjusted for inflation since 2014; we expect a review under the April 2026 White Paper but no change has been gazetted as of May 2026.

The R120,000 application fee is non-refundable and is paid to DHA at submission. It is in addition to professional fees, third-party documentation costs (apostilles, translations, certified copies) and the bank charges for proving the underlying assets.

Asset composition can include any combination of: cash and bank balances, investment portfolios, real estate (held in personal name or in trust), business equity (where the applicant's holding is verifiable), pensions and annuities (where the capital value is fixed), and intellectual property (with credible valuation). DHA's general approach is to favour liquid or near-liquid assets; valuations of complex private-company shareholdings draw closer scrutiny.

The documentary build for Section 27(g) is built around an audited net-worth statement prepared by a chartered accountant or registered auditor. The statement must be on the auditor's letterhead, signed and stamped, dated within six months of submission, and supported by the underlying documentation for each asset class.

For each asset, supporting documents typically include: bank statements covering the past 12 months for cash; brokerage statements for portfolio holdings; title deeds and recent independent valuations for real estate; share certificates and audited financials for business equity; pension administrator statements for pension capital. Documents from foreign jurisdictions must be apostilled or legalised and translated where the original is not in English.

The audit standard DHA expects is materially higher than a typical net-worth letter for banking purposes. We work with the applicant's accountant from the start of the build to ensure the statement and supporting documentation will satisfy DHA's adjudication standard, rather than discovering a gap at RFI stage.

End-to-end timing for a Section 27(g) PR application is twelve to eighteen months in 2026 — materially faster than Section 26 or Section 27(b) routes (eighteen to thirty months) because the documentary build is simpler.

Pre-submission build (four to eight weeks). The audited net-worth statement is the long pole; once issued, supporting documents are typically already in hand. Police clearances and medicals are obtained in the standard four-to-six-week window.

Submission. The application can be lodged at VFS Global in South Africa or at the relevant SA mission abroad. The R120,000 fee is paid at submission. Biometrics are captured.

Adjudication (typically twelve to fifteen months). DHA reviews the audited net-worth statement, supporting documents and police/medical proof. RFIs are common for the first audited statement and usually request additional supporting documentation or recalculation methodology — they are rarely fatal to the application but they extend timing.

Section 27(g) PR confers full work, residence and travel rights on the applicant. It does not, by itself, confer rights on dependants. A spouse and minor children must apply separately as accompanying dependants of the principal applicant — the documentary build for dependants is lighter (relationship proof, police clearances, medicals) but each dependant carries their own application fee.

Section 27(g) PR does not extinguish the requirement to obtain South African tax residence or to file South African tax returns where applicable. SARS tax residence is a separate determination from immigration residence and is determined under the Income Tax Act. Applicants who maintain primary residence outside South Africa should obtain tax advice from an SA tax practitioner before submission.

Section 27(g) PR is reviewable under Section 28 of the Immigration Act on the standard grounds (absence over three years, criminal conduct, fraud at application). The investment basis is not itself reviewable — once the PR is granted, the applicant is not required to maintain the R12 million net worth.

The April 2026 White Paper restructures Section 27 routes into a points-based PR framework. Section 27(g) financial-independence applications will fold into the points system, with net worth becoming a high-weight point category rather than a binary threshold.

Two practical implications under the announced framework. First, the R12 million threshold is expected to remain a meaningful entry point but is no longer the sole determinant — applicants below R12 million may qualify if they accumulate sufficient points across other categories (in-country investment, job creation, qualification, age). Second, applicants well above R12 million — say R30 million or more — may benefit from waiting for the points-based system because their additional net worth will earn additional points beyond the current binary all-or-nothing threshold.

Implementing regulations for the PR points framework are expected in Q3–Q4 2026. Applications submitted under the existing Section 27(g) framework before the regulations come into force will be adjudicated under existing rules. We expect a small applications surge in the May–August 2026 window from applicants who prefer the simpler current framework over the unknown points calibration.