residency

Several years ago, I did my visa alone, without any assistance from a lawyer, except for the letter requesting the visa with the notary seal.  I have since helped several others obtain their visas without a lawyer, and in most cases, it has been much cheaper and faster.  If you speak Spanish, you can do it yourself.  If not, and you are applying for a visa without any complicating factors, such as a criminal conviction, it can be cheaper to use a person like myself, who has connections in the oficina de Extranjeria to process your application.
My personal experience was that I requested the list of requisite documents from the oficina de Subdireccion General de Extranjeria where I was applying.  In my case, Guayaquil.  I then got the lawyer letter, notory stamp, and copy of his credential.  I then made copies of all of the other required documents, translated them and presented them in a folder to the office of Extranjeria.  They did a quick look to see that I had included all the documents.  I went back in a week, to find out if all of the documents had been accepted and I wasnt missing anything.  When I went, they told me everything was fine.  They gave me a receipt to pay the visa fee, and a document to fill out, showing the information that I wanted on my cedula. I went to the bank, paid it and returned with the receipt (after making a copy) and the completed cedula document, and gave them my passport. Four days later I returned for my passport, which had my visa stamped inside, and a document allowing me to receive my cedula.  The total process was just over two weeks.

this might help

From the ExpatExchange forum
One forum member wrote:
Quote
I wanted to take a moment and thank Dana with helping me to file may registration of Visa, Censo and soon my final residency papers. I have encouraged her to start her own business providing these services to others coming in.
She has helped others file for documentation and she can do it at a greatly reduced price than hiring an attorney, which a lot of people assume is necessary, when in deed it is not. She is most comfortable filing the 9I for retirees, and this is not to say that there is not occasions when you need to have an attorney, there certainly are. If you have brought the documentation down that you need I would encourage you to contact Dana and see what she can do for you, she can be reached at 080590930.
Enjoying my new home immensely,
End of quote

you have a PM Andes_Song

HI there!

What kind of visas can you help with? I am not sure where to start...How can you stay in SA for a long-term period??