Benin or South Africa
Two countries side by side across the same rows as the full comparison. A dash means the value is missing: fields are not filled with guesses. about the data
| Benin | South Africa | |
|---|---|---|
| Salary in IT | — | — |
| Citizenship | 3 years | 10 years |
| Partner can work | — | no |
| Parents | — | difficult |
| Pets | no trouble | difficult |
| Pet limit | no limit | no limit |
| Quarantine | — | 14 days |
| Residence permit fee | 250 000 XOF | — |
| Rent, 2 bedrooms | $ 332 · estimate | $ 633 · estimate |
| Basket | $ 28,9 | $ 26,0 |
| Life expectancy | 60.96 | 66.31 |
| Homicides/100k | 1.13 | 39.72 |
| Natural hazards, 0–10 | 3.1 | 3.9 |
How the two sets of routes differ
Long-stay routes in this reference: Benin — 8, South Africa — 24. Types present in both: work and study. South Africa adds: family, investment, talent and retirement.
Fees, thresholds and deadlines
Benin: fees range from 32,798 to 800,000 XOF. Routes with a published decision deadline: 6; the shortest is 1 days. South Africa: fees range from 425 to 1,520 ZAR. Routes with no fee: 2. Routes stating an income threshold: 2; the lowest is 8,500 ZAR a month.
Beyond the first permit
Permanent status: Benin after 6 years, South Africa after 5 years. Citizenship: Benin after 3 years, South Africa after 10 years.
Benin in brief
Benin is noticeably calmer than the region's reputation suggests: 1.13 homicides per 100,000 people (World Bank, 2017 data — the authorities publish nothing more recent for the country), political stability −0.4 and control of corruption −0.24 on the World Bank scale from −2.5 to +2.5. The strong points end there: life expectancy 60.96 years, health spending of 46.5 dollars per person a year, basic water access for 69.6 per cent of the population, and mean PM2.5 of 39.66 micrograms per cubic metre — nearly ten times the WHO guideline. Road deaths run at 24.8 per 100,000. Natural risk is moderate overall (3.1 out of 10 on INFORM), but flooding scores 6.7. The immigration framework has been rewritten from scratch and simplified: law No. 2025-15 of July 2025 and the decree of March 2026 left two resident statuses instead of three — an ordinary card for three years and a privileged one for ten. Two rules are worth knowing in advance: silence from the authority at the end of the decision period counts as a refusal, and a visa refusal cannot be appealed at all — three days are allowed to leave. Fees for nationals of ECOWAS states and for everyone else differ by a factor of five or more. There is no separate work permit: the labour directorate endorses the contract with a foreigner, and that is the employer's obligation.
South Africa in brief
South Africa builds its intake around scarce occupations: the Critical Skills Work Visa is issued for up to 5 years, but the occupation must be on the current list and the qualification must be assessed by SAQA with an NQF level stated. The constraints are the time limits and family: the processing standard for a spousal visa is 120 working days, work on it without a separate permit is not allowed, and citizenship comes after 10 years.
Other comparisons
Benin or… Nigeria · Rwanda · Tunisia · Algeria · Tanzania · Kenya · Angola · Gabon
South Africa or… Madagascar · Sierra Leone · Uganda · Zambia · Eswatini · Lesotho · Mozambique · Republic of the Congo
More on each: Benin · South Africa. Build your own comparison — up to four countries
This material is for reference and is not legal, tax or immigration advice. Visa rules, tax thresholds and prices change. Before deciding anything, check the official sources and consult a licensed professional in the relevant country.