Emigrating to South Africa

Ovr

Ovr

Ovr

Associate
Joined
16 Dec 2004
Posts
469
Location
Leicestershire
Hi all,

Been a semi-lurker here for far too long and just wondered if anyone had packed up and moved to South Africa?

I'm currently engaged to a lovely South African girl who I've been with for a year, and now want to go to her in Cape Town. I've contacted several immigration agencies but their fees are horrendously expensive for what I feel I can do myself.

I have a degree in Engineering which is on their quota based work permit but unfortunately have not been working for 5 years yet (just turned 25 after a 4 year university course.) However, it seems that a life partner visa grants not only a temporary residence permit, but also a right to work during that time. Does anyone know anything about this?

Apologies if this is not the place to be asking such questions and mods please feel free to move or delete if necessary - just trying to find some help!

Many thanks for any advice or experiences that you can share with me.

Matt.
 
Agree with the duck billed one!
There is a good expat forum somewhere, do a google and see if you can find it
 
Ovr said:
Hi all,

Been a semi-lurker here for far too long and just wondered if anyone had packed up and moved to South Africa?

I'm currently engaged to a lovely South African girl who I've been with for a year, and now want to go to her in Cape Town. I've contacted several immigration agencies but their fees are horrendously expensive for what I feel I can do myself.

I have a degree in Engineering which is on their quota based work permit but unfortunately have not been working for 5 years yet (just turned 25 after a 4 year university course.) However, it seems that a life partner visa grants not only a temporary residence permit, but also a right to work during that time. Does anyone know anything about this?

Apologies if this is not the place to be asking such questions and mods please feel free to move or delete if necessary - just trying to find some help!

Many thanks for any advice or experiences that you can share with me.

Matt.
Click to expand...

Um. Have you been to South Africa before?
 
It's been on quite a downward spiral this past decade (I grew up there), and I certainly wouldn't want to live there at the moment.
 
I've been to South Africa and lived there on a temporary holiday permit for 30 odd days at a time about 4 times over the past 10 months. If I'm totally honest it's not something I *really* want to be doing but my fiancé cannot move to the UK at present so to be with her I am going to go to Cape Town to be with her.

I have absolutely no intention of going anywhere other than Cape Town =D
 
Ovr said:
I've been to South Africa and lived there on a temporary holiday permit for 30 odd days at a time about 4 times over the past 10 months. If I'm totally honest it's not something I *really* want to be doing but my fiancé cannot move to the UK at present so to be with her I am going to go to Cape Town to be with her.

I have absolutely no intention of going anywhere other than Cape Town =D
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As you say, not somewhere I would live- even Cape Town. There are FAR worse places though...

Sorry can't help more.

Immigrationboards.com (I think) might help you
 
my cousin and her husband came back a while ago ( both british ) he said what finally did it for him was a gun battle on the beach about 100 yards from them. He said that they had a nice house their standard of living wasnt bad but it was just too dangerous.

i think they lived there for about 3 years altogether.
 
Hi Bes,

Thanks for the link. I've found quite a few immigration/ex-pat boards but they seem to have little to no activity :(

As far as getting a job goes, I don't expect it to be easy but most of the engineering jobs at my level aren't AA or BEE endorsed so "hopefully" I'll start getting some offers once I've sent enough applications off.
 
doofski said:
my cousin and her husband came back a while ago ( both british ) he said what finally did it for him was a gun battle on the beach about 100 yards from them. He said that they had a nice house their standard of living wasnt bad but it was just too dangerous.

i think they lived there for about 3 years altogether.
Click to expand...

Where about's was that doofski? I've heard the bad stories and they are very scary :-/ However, not seen anything myself which is keeping me positive (erk!) The area i'll be moving to is in the northern suburbs which is quite nice and Cape Town seems fine if you don't go out by yourself and make yourself a target. I guess it's similar to most large cities like London in my ways.
 
Ovr said:
Where about's was that doofski? I've heard the bad stories and they are very scary :-/ However, not seen anything myself which is keeping me positive (erk!) The area i'll be moving to is in the northern suburbs which is quite nice and Cape Town seems fine if you don't go out by yourself and make yourself a target. I guess it's similar to most large cities like London in my ways.
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You're kidding! It's far more dangerous than even somewhere like Canning Town or Elephant & Castle in London.
 
Ovr said:
Where about's was that doofski? I've heard the bad stories and they are very scary :-/ However, not seen anything myself which is keeping me positive (erk!) The area i'll be moving to is in the northern suburbs which is quite nice and Cape Town seems fine if you don't go out by yourself and make yourself a target. I guess it's similar to most large cities like London in my ways.
Click to expand...

Are you joking? There is nowhere in London that is a no go area at night, even if the media portrays a different story. And I can assure you that you won't get mugged at gunpoint.
 
fretted said:
Could you get a job over there or would you suffer from the positive discrimination policy?
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Please don't listen to this. :rolleyes:

Hi Matt,

I made the move back like you want to- I moved out of SA when I was 11 years old as my Mother moved to the UK and I had to follow her there.

five years later, I decided I had enough of UK life and move back home to SA. I have not regretted moving back. sure - there is problems here - but what country doesn't have it's problems?

And please - don't listen to the crap you hear from media or from people who have not stayed here more than a year themselves - as their opinions are invalid.

Cape Town is a beautiful place to be and as long as you're in a decent part of town - I doubt there would be any problems.

I remember five years (or six) ago I told people here I was going back. A lot of the comments (one from Gilly - saying not to get shot) were warning me off coming back here.

In the five years back home I personally have not had any crime happen to me or friend that I know. Sure - there have been major crimes - but again - that is to be expected.

I say since you've been here and want to be with your other half - go for it! :D

As with immigrating here - I can help you with that too.

Pop me a mail if you need to as well. ;)

Regards,
Robert
 
Ovr said:
Where about's was that doofski? I've heard the bad stories and they are very scary :-/ However, not seen anything myself which is keeping me positive (erk!) The area i'll be moving to is in the northern suburbs which is quite nice and Cape Town seems fine if you don't go out by yourself and make yourself a target. I guess it's similar to most large cities like London in my ways.
Click to expand...


they moved to Durban, i thought it was supposed to be safe there, but obviousy not. We have a few relatives over in SA, but i wouldnt want to go to be honest.
 
I lived from age 7 to 21 in cape town and my mother still owns a house in ct. I love the place and will probably end up retiring there, if i ever have children i would like them to grow up there.

It all depends on the area where you live, but if you own a fairly decent house in the uk and move to cape town you should be able to get a much bigger house with a garden (front and back) and a pool, in a prime location for the same price. but the exchange rate is moving in south africas favour at the moment. It used to be up to 15 to 1 now it is down to 10-12 to 1. But you still get a good deal. If you g/f is south african then she will probably know ct.

I want to get a south african girl friend, best women in the world imo.
 
Where in Durban as there are some rough areas like, Meerbank. I stayed in Bluff in Durban for 4 years and had zero problems and enjoy the hot beach. :cool:
 
It depends on what you value in life and where you are in your life. For children growing up south africa beats england easy, loads of outdoor activities and always playing sports in the sun, surfing etc. But broadband is expensive thanks to the monopolised telephone company telkom and the governments restrictions. (as usual) If you have just finished school and have never had a job and you are white then south africa is not the best place to be. You can get by, but there is just a lot more opportunity in london or the uk for that matter (although with unemployment as it is, that does not look much better). It is definitely more difficult to live in south africa, job wise, money wise. You can't get a job at pick n pay (tesco) doing teller work and afford to live the same standard of living you would here. A lot of my friends in sa still live with their parents way in to their mid 20s because it is just so difficult to get going there. I can ramble on for a while about this...

If you have any questions let me know
 
Hey guys, many thanks for the replies! Ice On Fire I'll definitely be whacking you a mail over this evening, thanks for the offer!

In terms of a job, I've got this degree in Engineering from Cardiff which is quite valuable and have worked in the HVAC industry for the past 2 years, mainly in Dubai for the last year or so doing some particularly high profile jobs over there and here (Khalifa, Al Arab, Nuclear Power Stations etc.) Hoping that this experience will pay off and look attractive to South African employers but to be honest I'm finding it difficult to find suitable jobs in Cape Town.

The only other concern I have is that I have type 1 diabetes but after some research it seems that all medical aid packages are tailored for chronic medicines like insulin etc. Something I'll have to ask Ice On Fire about maybe :D
 
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