Driver and Delivery Work in South Africa for Foreign Nationals

The short version

Each company says something different, and several say nothing at all.

• Uber Eats says the most. Its accepted identity documents are a South African ID book or card, a South African passport, a non-South African passport with a permit, an asylum seeker or refugee permit, or a refugee ID.
• Takealot's form offers another country's passport as an identity option, and asks non-South African citizens to add a work permit or an asylum document. It does not name a refugee status document.
• Pingo, which does Checkers Sixty60 deliveries, names a South African work permit and what it calls an asylum visa. It does not name a foreign passport or a refugee document.
• Mr D names a work permit only. No passport, no asylum document, no refugee document.
• Picup asks a driver who is not a South African citizen for an asylum seeker document, work permit or visa, and then writes “etc”. It has one ID document slot and does not say what may fill it, so it names no passport of any kind, and no refugee status document.
• Uber, Bolt and inDrive name no identity documents at all. Not for South Africans either. We cannot tell you what they accept.

A company not naming a document is not the same as refusing it. But it means you have nothing to show at a branch.

Note the wording on the two clearest lists. Uber Eats writes “Non-South African Passport + Permit”, and Takealot asks for a passport and a work permit or asylum document. Neither accepts a foreign passport on its own.

Four of them have the same gap. Takealot, Pingo, Mr D and Picup all name an asylum or work permit document, and none names a section 24 refugee document. Uber Eats is the only one that does.

The driving permit is usually the harder step

For passenger work with Uber or Bolt, the hard part is usually the professional driving permit, not the app.

A driving licence testing centre issues the PrDP, not Uber or Bolt. The government's checklist asks for an identity document, driving licence card or valid South African passport, four photographs, a valid driving licence for the category, a medical certificate no older than two months, and proof of address. It does not cover every foreign-document case.

Bolt's own PrDP guide is more direct about this than the government page: it says a South African citizen brings an ID card or book and a foreign national brings a valid passport. That is Bolt describing the process, not a rule, but it is the clearest thing said on the subject.

You also need a valid South African driving licence card for the PrDP, which is a real obstacle if you drive on a foreign licence.

This is the main difference between delivery work and passenger work. Uber Eats, Takealot, Mr D, Pingo, Picup and Sixty60 mention no PrDP. Uber and Bolt cannot activate you without one.

Which driving licences companies accept

Uber Eats is the only company here that names an International Driving Permit in writing, for both motorbike and car. It is also the only one that names a South African Code 1 learner's licence, and it accepts a South African temporary licence.

Mr D asks for a valid South African driving licence, and names no alternative. Takealot's form photographs a licence card and reads the code off it, without listing the accepted codes. Pingo asks for a valid driving licence without naming a code.

Only a 2024 news report said Takealot accepts an international licence from foreign nationals. Takealot's own form does not say it. Ask the branch.

If you want passenger work, a foreign or international licence is a bigger problem than a company's onboarding list, because a PrDP is issued against a South African licence card. Our page on converting a foreign driving licence goes through what the government says about that, and the one question its pages do not answer.

What the law says about working

DriverZA does not give immigration or legal advice, and this section is not advice. It is what UNHCR South Africa says, in plain words.

Two different things get confused all the time, so keep them apart:

• A company saying it accepts a document. That is an onboarding rule. It is what most of this site records.
• Being allowed to work in South Africa. That is your immigration status, and no app decides it.

One does not prove the other, in either direction.

A recognised refugee under section 24 has the right to seek employment in South Africa.

An asylum seeker under section 22 does not automatically have permission to work while the claim is being decided. The section 22 document has to be endorsed to permit work, which means applying to the Standing Committee, and the Standing Committee decides whether to grant it and on what conditions.

UNHCR also says plainly that this practice “has not yet been fully implemented”. So what happens in practice may not match what the rule says, in either direction.

Your own permit and its endorsements decide this, not a website and not an app. Check with the Department of Home Affairs, and check what your own document actually says on it.

Before you pay anyone

People selling fake registrations, fake permits and fake bike rentals often target foreign nationals, because the real process is confusing and slow.

The important distinction is where you are being asked for documents, not which documents.

• Normal. A company's own onboarding form asking you to photograph your passport and permit. Takealot's form does exactly that. That is the process working.
• Not normal. A person on WhatsApp asking you to send the same photographs to them. Nobody legitimate needs that.
• Never normal. Anyone charging a registration fee, an activation fee, or a fee for a “slot”. No company on this site charges to apply.

Three rules that follow:

• Start at the company's own site. Every application link on DriverZA goes there and nowhere else.
• Never pay a person for a driver job, a place in a queue, or a faster application.
• Never buy a permit, an endorsement or a licence from anyone. A fake one costs you the money and then the job.

Our scam page goes through this in more detail.