The primary requirement for the South African Retirement Visa is that the applicant must be able to show “retirement income” of at least the equivalent of R 37 000 per month. Ideally this income should be in the form of a pension or retirement annuity but other “passive income” such as rental or interest etc. can also be used. Notably the Retirement Visa does not have an age limit that the applicant must have attained in order to be eligible to qualify.

However, the Department of Home Affairs has found that the Retirement Visa has been abused with many Retirement Visas being issued to applicants as young as 25 years old. Further once these visas have been issued the holders then take up employment in South Africa. This is also in contravention of the conditions of a Retirement Visa.

The upshot of this is that the Revised White Paper on Citizenship, Immigration and Refugee Protection has recommended that a minimum age limit be placed on the Retirement Visa. This age limit is likely to be set at 55 years.

The other likely change that will be introduced is that the minimum “retirement income” of at least the equivalent of R 37 000 per month is likely to be increased. This amount has been in place since 2014 and had not been increased in line with inflation and the increased cost of living.