Permanent residence through work: prove the relevant history and employment

Before you start

Use this page to match the visa history to the employment evidence. It does not count qualifying years for you, decide the effect of a gap or guarantee that a particular visa combination qualifies.

Keep three timelines separate

Many people have a clear employment history but a less clear record of the permission held at each point. Others have every visa but have not matched them to the employer and role. Build three linked timelines:

1. Immigration permission: category, stated legal basis where known, issue and expiry dates, conditions and relevant decisions.
2. Employment: legal employing entity, role, actual start/end dates and documents establishing the arrangement.
3. Applications and unresolved events: submissions, outcomes, changes and periods needing clarification.

Record travel or other events that may matter for review, but do not invent a rule that every trip abroad breaks the period or that every application receipt preserves it. The effect of the particular facts must be examined against the applicable rules and decisions.

This preparation is more useful than starting with a total such as "I have been here seven years". It shows precisely which period you are relying on and where a reviewer needs to look more closely.

Read the actual visa category, not only the word work

The regulation's reference is to section 19 work visas. [B05A03] A document permitting some activity, an employment contract and a visa issued under a different provision should not simply be added together as interchangeable years.

For each document, copy the actual category and conditions into the index. If you do not know the legal basis, mark it "to confirm" and retain the document for review. Do not classify it by a filename or by what an employer's tracker called it.

The work overview explains temporary work-route questions. An intra-company assignment or another special arrangement needs examination on its own facts; this page makes no blanket promise or categorical exclusion about every such history. A present permission to perform an assignment and a permanent-employment offer are different evidence questions.

Match the permanent-employment offer to real records

The statutory ground requires the permanent-employment offer to be proven to the decision-maker's satisfaction. [B05A01] A successful career, a manager's intention to retain you or an old recruitment email should not be assumed to establish that requirement by itself.

Identify the legal employer and the actual offer being relied on. Check whether your employment documents tell the same story about the entity, role and dates. If there has been a group restructuring, a change in contract or a proposed future move, flag the difference rather than editing away the older record.

Agree who at the employer can confirm the facts and provide the relevant records through an appropriate channel. The employer coordination guide helps divide responsibilities, while ongoing employer review covers records and changes. This article does not prescribe that every employer must issue one standard PR letter.

Make gaps reviewable before building a submission pack

Use a table like this to keep evidence and legal conclusions separate:

This is a planning tool, not an eligibility calculator. Use accurate dates, distinguish issue from submission and expiry, and label missing records. A screenshot of a tracking status should not be silently substituted for the underlying decision.

If an expiry or unresolved status issue is urgent, prioritise that issue through individual immigration review. The long-term PR plan does not make an immediate permission question disappear.

Other employment or skills grounds have different tests

The Act also contains employment and skills grounds in section 27, separate from section 26(a)'s work-history ground. [B05A02] Do not import their conditions, or a points score for a temporary visa, into the five-year assessment as though all are the same application.

Ask which precise provision is being considered and why. If a different ground is proposed, obtain its own evidence requirements and any applicable current direction rather than submitting the same file under a new label. Start with the PR overview and permanent-residence requirements for that wider preparation.

This page does not claim that a current critical-skills label guarantees PR, that all skilled applicants must follow section 26(a), or that it has verified an individual exception or waiver.

Keep present permission valid while the PR application is pending

DHA Directive 7 of 2026 specifically says PR applicants must keep residential status valid while awaiting the result; its temporary concession does not apply to PR applications. [B05A04] Keep the current permission calendar alongside the permanent-residence evidence project.

Separate submission, requests for evidence and the eventual decision in your records. Read PR processing times for planning questions; no expected decision date or expedited service is promised here.

Fictional example: the employer's spreadsheet contains the wrong milestone

A professional's HR record shows the date they joined a multinational group abroad. A later South African contract and the actual visa documents show different milestones. Before using the group-service date as the start of the work-visa period, the professional builds a dated index of the actual permissions and local employment records.

They ask for the relevant period and current offer to be examined together. This fictional example does not count any period, establish continuity or decide whether the person qualifies. It shows why a familiar HR date may answer a different question from the one the PR ground asks.

Questions people ask

Do five years physically in the country settle the work route?

The identified ground concerns work-visa history and a permanent-employment offer; the regulation requires evidence of the continuous period it specifies. [B05A01, B05A03] Physical presence alone does not supply those documents.

Can I combine every period when I was allowed to work?

Do not assume so. Identify the actual permissions and have the category and continuity questions reviewed. This guide does not declare every form of work authorisation interchangeable.

Is my employer's support the same as an approval?

No decision on the application is made here. Employer records help establish facts; the statutory satisfaction requirement remains separate. [B05A01]

Should I arrange the medical report listed in an old PR pack?

First reconcile the pack with the July 2026 waiver of the specified medical reports. [B05A05] Obtain current instructions for the actual category and channel; this is not a waiver of every document.

Prepare the work-history question

Identify the period you want examined, the actual visa categories and the permanent offer, then list any missing or inconsistent record. Use conversation preparation to request a focused assessment rather than a prediction based only on your arrival year.

Official sources for this guide

These official pages are research starting points. Read the geographical scope and current notices before relying on them. No individual determination is made by this information.

• B05A01 — official primary source

  Research checked 17 October 2026. Read the exact notice, date and receiving-channel scope with later instruments. Confirm individual applicability before relying on this information.

• B05A02 — official primary source

  Research checked 17 October 2026. Read the exact notice, date and receiving-channel scope with later instruments. Confirm individual applicability before relying on this information.

• B05A03 — official primary source

  Research checked 17 October 2026. Read the exact notice, date and receiving-channel scope with later instruments. Confirm individual applicability before relying on this information.

• B05A04 — official primary source

  Research checked 17 October 2026. Read the exact notice, date and receiving-channel scope with later instruments. Confirm individual applicability before relying on this information.

• B05A05 — official primary source

  Research checked 17 October 2026. Read the exact notice, date and receiving-channel scope with later instruments. Confirm individual applicability before relying on this information.