General work visas: build the evidence behind the points

Before you start

The first task is therefore to establish the actual employment arrangement and evidence, rather than treating a promising score as a visa. This guide helps you prepare that work; it does not calculate eligibility or authorise a start date.

Check that you are researching the right arrangement

Identify the legal employer, proposed position, actual tasks and intended duration. If the arrangement is an overseas group assignment, employer-level corporate programme or foreign-employer remote role, read the separate transfer, corporate or remote-work guide.

For a possible listed occupation, use critical skills. Do not describe the same proposed work differently simply to obtain a preferred route label. An uncertain occupation or employer relationship should remain a question for review.

Read the later points determination accurately

GN5448 provides these criteria: [B07A01]

This table reproduces the notice's bands; it is not a calculator or a finding about their application to your evidence. Boundary wording, recognition of qualifications, remuneration components and experience periods should not be resolved by an informal spreadsheet. The notice separately gives a listed critical occupation 100 points and describes the critical-skills branch. [B07A01]

Use the 18 October notice rather than the earlier 9 October version, which differs. Avoid importing a remote-work income condition as though it were the general-work test. A salary figure is one part of a different framework here, not a universal statement that every applicant below or above an amount has the same result.

Give every proposed criterion an evidence owner

For each criterion being relied on, record the document, its issuer, what it establishes and any unresolved interpretation. Keep a proposed claim separate from a verified fact.

• For qualifications, identify the actual award and evaluation position. Do not assign an NQF level from the degree's name alone.
• For salary, use the actual offer and clarify the gross annual figure being relied on rather than mixing guaranteed pay, a possible bonus and reimbursements.
• For experience, retain accurate roles and dates, identifying overlaps or missing records rather than adding rounded years.
• For Trusted Employer status, identify the evidence for the actual employing entity. A large group name or an HR assurance is not a substitute for the status being claimed.
• For language, identify what evidence or assessment is required by the current instructions rather than assuming a passport proves it.

These are preparation tasks. They do not add a new legal test or declare that each criterion must be claimed. The evidence should explain the combination actually being put forward.

Qualification evidence can have its own sequence

DHA's general-work requirements document distinguishes a foreign-qualification evaluation from proof that an evaluation has been applied for. Its notes describe a limited one-year visa arrangement where the outcome is pending and the required application proof is submitted, with a positive outcome to follow within that year. [B07A02]

This is not a reason to assume evaluation is permanently optional or that a pending request guarantees a grant. Identify the actual stage and current receiving-channel requirements before making commitments. Directive 10/2024 also addresses the partial SAQA waiver's application date and contains transitional and special-dispensation provisions. [B07A03] Older/pending histories need their dates examined rather than a blanket rule from this page.

Where the qualification or evidence remains unclear, write the issue precisely: which award, which evaluation, what has been submitted and what result remains outstanding. Avoid saying simply "SAQA done" if that phrase could mean either an application or a positive outcome.

Keep current instructions separate from saved checklists

The October 2024 DHA requirements document is useful for its identified qualification sequence and employer particulars, but it still contains a medical-report item. The later July 2026 directive waives the specified medical-report requirements. [B07A02, B07A04] Do not turn a saved checklist into current law by copying it wholesale.

Use visa requirements to identify the actual category/channel instructions. Ask about an exact conflict where necessary. No universal bank-document list, fee or medical appointment is prescribed here.

The general-work visa framework has a maximum duration rather than a guaranteed length for every case; DHA's checklist identifies five years and the shorter pending-evaluation arrangement. [B07A02] Use the dates and conditions on an actual grant when planning later steps.

Coordinate the proposed start with the actual decision

Keep the offer, evidence preparation, application and permission stages distinct. A planned start date belongs in the dependency calendar, not in the column proving a visa exists.

Use pre-hire preparation to agree who checks the outcome and conditions before starting. If the employer, role or facts change while the process is underway, identify the change for review rather than assuming an earlier pack still describes the arrangement.

For later residence planning, read work-based permanent residence. A temporary points result does not determine that separate application.

Fictional example: one spreadsheet, two meanings of salary

A candidate's planning spreadsheet adds an uncertain performance payment to the salary in an offer. The employer's formal document describes the payment differently. Before relying on a points band, they identify the discrepancy and ask which evidence and interpretation are appropriate.

This fictional example calculates no score and makes no eligibility finding. Its useful result is an exact question rather than a confident number based on inconsistent records.

Questions people ask

Is the job offer enough?

The offer is mandatory, but the points determination also requires the threshold and other conditions. [B07A01] It is not itself work permission.

Is Trusted Employer status worth 20 or 30 points?

The later GN5448 notice gives 30. [B07A01] Confirm that the actual employer and evidence support the criterion before relying on it.

Can every pending application be assessed under today's table?

Directive 10/2024 includes transitional and special-dispensation provisions. [B07A03] Record the actual appointment/submission history and have the applicable framework checked.

Can this page predict when I can start?

No individual decision date is supplied. Read processing-time planning and keep commitments dependent on the actual outcome and conditions.

Prepare an evidence-based question

Record the proposed employer/role, the criteria being relied on, evidence owners and the biggest unresolved fact. Use conversation preparation before treating an informal score as a completed assessment.

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.

• B07A01 — 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.

• B07A02 — 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.

• B07A03 — 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.

• B07A04 — 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.