Media, Information Technology and Telecommunications Industry
Critical Skills Visa (South Africa)
ICITP 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
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 the online verification link, if available),
- Current/Updated CV (Resume),
- 2 X Employer Letters,
- Passport,
- Stated Critical Skill(s),
- Check List and Proof of Payment.
If we do not have these we cannot begin with the Assessment.
Critical Skills Visa Documentation
Documents to be submitted to ICITP (send to qa@icitp.org.za) – where QA” represents Quality Assurance Department for “Critical Skills Assessment”:
(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 authorized person)
- Degree / diploma qualifications
- 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.
- SAQA equivalency certificate for foreign degrees / diplomas
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 ICITP to verify the studies undertaken and certifications awarded. Certificates showing only “Completion” or “Attendance” will not be accepted.
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)
A clear indication in your reply email of the particular critical skill category (both Classification of Education Subject Matter and Specific Occupation/Critical skill, per the Government Gazette) that you believe applies to you.
(Note that if you do not stipulate this, the assessment cannot be done). – Please select your critical skill of choice on the lists on our application form as published on the 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.
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 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, Offers of Employment and Reference Letters are also acceptable. Employer letters are not forwarded to the authorities, but they are referred to in your Certificate).
(This means the membership and registration fees, if not already a member of the Institute, as well as the Critical Skills application / assessment fee).
Please confirm your names correctly as per the sequence in your passport (First name, Middle names, Last name (Surname)
If you have recently applied for membership of ICITP and have already submitted some / all copies of documents (certified where relevant) as noted in points 1a to 1d above, you do not need to resubmit these documents. Please just indicate that you have already done so and the date on which they were submitted.
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♦ A Check List for you to complete to help both you and us ensure that all necessary documents have been included. Please return the completed check list with your submission. Without the return of the completed check list we will not be able to attend to your application. Please click here to download the check list.
- Please allow approximately two to three weeks for your critical skills submission to be assessed from the date of the email acknowledging receipt of your critical skills application by the ICITP. Note, however, that if the required documents and information are not submitted timeously, this could further prolong the process.
Requests to Expedite a Critical Skills Assessment: There is an additional cost if you want us to speed up your process. We wish to advise Applications are usually processed in the order in which they are received (assuming that all required documentation has been presented and is in order).
If you are not a registered member of ICITP and you have not yet submitted an application for registration, you will also need to:
- Complete the application form, 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 ICITP?”).
- Pay the first year’s registration / membership fee (for an individual: Application / Registration fee (non-refundable)+ Annual Membership fee for first year)
- If you are applying simultaneously for ICITP membership and for the assessment the total cost would be (CSA Fee + Application / Registration Fee (non-refundable) + Current Membership fees).
- Request for an invoice from our quality assurance department
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Successful applicants for critical skills assessment will receive two original certificate copies (one for membership and one for license to practice IT in South Africa bearing the embossed seal of the Institute) with a written confirmation of your critical skill from the Institute (ICITP).
These documents 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 with our Quality Assurance Department – qa@icitp.org.za , 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.
We very much regret that we are unable to provide such a service at this time, mainly because the time taken to pre-assess an application is very similar to the time taken to prepare a full assessment
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“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.
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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 been rejected by DoHA because of insufficient experience.
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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 ICITP, and will also have at least 24 months post-qualification experience.
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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.
It is important to note that the provision of such a written confirmation of critical skills by the Institute (ICITP) 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 ICITP gives no such assurances.