schmoo

Hello everyone, i have been following this forum with interest & now wish to ask for your opinions etc on my situation. This being that i am a (white) Brit & have a white girlfriend who permanently resides in SA, but was born in England. I have visited SA many times (& love it immensely) as both my own & my girlfriends parents both live there permanently. I am more than willing to make the leap to join her there permanently too. However, whereas the parents i spoke of, work abroad & earn the strength of sterling enabling them to live a very comfortable lifestyle, my girlfriend works too, but in SA, leading a steady life etc, but i have no trade to speak of & am wondering about possible problems finding work. Any suggestions, comments, thoughts etc from you guys would be greatly appreciated on what would be the best way to enter & then to sustain myself etc.

Pablo

If, as you seem to suggest, you are unskilled, then you are likely to have difficulty finding a job.

If you have skills that are in short supply in SA, or if you are in a financial position and have the entrepreneurial wherewithal to set up a business, then you will probably be able to gain a living.

If you have done your research - if you have read the various posts here, and delved around on the web - then you will probably know already that there is a huge mass of unskilled unemployed in South Africa (30%, 50%? Huge anyway), and there is also huge pressure to employ non-whites wherever possible. So as a white male you are going to be right at the very back of the queue, unless, as I say, you have a particular skill that is needed there.

Furthermore, from what you say, it sounds as if you don't have a SA residence permit (and thus work permit). If so, you would be unlikely to get one. Marrying your girlfriend, if she has a Residence Permit, or is a citizen, would be one way. But of course having the *right* to work is no guarantee that you will actually *find* work.

I would recommend you ask yourself some long hard questions about what you want from your life. Being on holiday in SA, and living permanently in SA, are two wholly different things, and when you are committed to staying there, and when you see the rest of the world sailing on by like a ship passing and then disappearing, you may find you feel differently.

I assume you've given some thought to the cost of living, what you could hope to earn, what those earnings would mean for you in terms of lifestyle, etc. I mention this only because I have met far too many people who, on the basis of two glorious sun-kissed weeks in an apartment overlooking Clifton Beach or Camps Bay, are ready to up sticks and relocate, without considering housing, medical insurance, and all the other costs that one just doesn't have to worry about when on holiday.

Best wishes

Pablo

schmoo

Pablo, many thanks for your comments. I know what i have to do too, and, no, any decision will NOT be based on a glorious sun-kissed two week holiday.. i know the situation there to some degree. I'm professional in a work essence, just have no "trade" re being "unskilled". I know one can enter being a partner/spouse. But once again, many thanks for your reply. I will again, give more thought to this, not only myself, but with my partner to see where we go from here.

Best wishes to you.

K&M

Hi schmoo
I thought I should reply to your post, being that I am South African and am at the moment am sitting in my shorts and t-shirt looking at the beautiful Cape Town sunset (sorry - couldn't resist a little dig there!)
Seriously - I can't even begin to imagine why you would consider moving to South Africa when most of us here would give anything to be where you are. I suppose the grass is always greener, BUT...
As Pablo said, a white male is at a serious disadvantage out here. THERE ARE NO JOBS. And its not like UK where you can do anything to get by, there is nothing. The government is clamping down seriously on Black Empowerment and white males do not fit into their picture at all. I am a young? (34) white female, and even for me, who can sometimes be considered previously disadvantaged (being female), there are no jobs.
Being a young male I have to assume that at some stage or another you are going to think about having kids of your own. Bringing children up in South Africa is not a pleasant thought, even for me who has kids of my own (hence us wanting to immigrate to Australia). The school system is extremely bad and the chance of a white child getting into university is not good. (Black kids with marks 20% below white kids' marks get in first because of BE). Kidnapping and rape are common, even in the small community I live in there was an attempted kidnapping outside my child's school two months ago. You cannot allow your child to leave your sight, ever. There is not a single house on my road without a 8 foot high fence. This means that kids never get to play in the road with neighbours' kids, they cannot leave the property.
Drunk and driving (and therefore car accidents and deaths) are common everyday occurrences. The death toll for the Christmas season in SA so far is sitting at 1600, and our holidays are not even over yet.
And that is saying nothing about crime. We live in constant fear of our lives. We cannot sleep with windows open, even if there are burglar bars. They gassed my husband and myself and kids while we were sleeping so that they could break in and walk around at leisure without us waking up! Why we weren't killed, I don't know, because here they kill you for R20.
I could carry on and on and on, but I won't. I must say I would seriously reconsider if I were you. It is very different to come here on holiday than to live here.
Sorry to sound so negative, but you have your whole life ahead of you and I don't think you realize the enormity of what you want to undertake.
Good luck with your decision
Megan

banjo

Hi K&M,

:scared: This is NOT good news. My sister lives and works in Cape Town and is always assuring me how different it is to the rest of SA. From what you've said it's pretty much the same.

She's a young (32) woman on her own and I'm always worried about her. Never having been to Cape Town I have only been able to take her word for it.

You know, when I read what you said about being gassed I wasn't even shocked! That must say something about the country when we have become habituated to such terrible events.

TouristTrap

I said the same thing about a year ago when I read on here about a young pregnant woman being gang raped inside her extremely secure home in a gated complex.

Sad that we have become 'dehumanised' in some way, by living in it day after day.

It is the one reason I wanted to leave so badly. I wanted my kids to grow up in a normal society, as opposed to that extremely abnormal one.

Here's holding thumbs for your move to Australia

lenandsons

Yet again, more doom and gloom from SA. Amazing really when after living in the country for the best part of 30 years apart from the odd car radio being stolen, I personally never experienced any serious crime and that was living in JHB. Also my parents, sister, family are also in the same position. Now there is no denying that crime is an issue but then so is it in the UK. My cousin lives in Aldershot. 200m from his house in a stunning park, only problem is that his kids cannot play there as it is the local druggie hangout. This weekend, 2 kids were knifed in London etc etc. It is about time that we started painting SA in a positive light!!! I for one am sick to death of everyone constantly running the place down, if it is so bad, then why are there now MORE people arriving ( legally ) both expats and others than there are leaving ???? My advice to anyone wanting to move to SA talk to people face to face go there spend time meeting locals and getting to know the country.

TouristTrap

Neither had many of the dozens if not hundreds who have been murdered or raped and are now infected with HIV, in brutal home invasions and hijackings the past week.

banjo

10/10 for your ostrich impression lenandsons ...... Yes, there is crime everywhere but not on the scale that it seems to happen in South Africa. Anyway, each to their own and if you and yours are happy to stay then that's your right. Here's hoping none of you become a statistic.

lenandsons

I could just as easy be a statistic anywhere in the world ! I wonder how many of you expats left because of crime, or more likely we are no longer die baas so we are leaving, will then spend the rest of our time bad mouthing the country!! Do me a favour if you have nothing positive to say .. say nothing !!!

TouristTrap

Oh, you still using THAT old lemon? Give it up doll, just makes you look stupid.

1. I live in a country that has FREE SPEECH written into its constitution. That doesn't have ARMED COPS standing around in my printing room ensuring that I won't release a story regarding CORRUPTION in government, as they did to the Mail and Guardian a few months ago, therefore I will say whatever the heck I want to, get it?

2. You don't know a single thing about any of us. The reasons why we left, if we were involved in the struggle at any level, or even what color we're are, you're making assumptions and thereby making yourself look like an ass.

3. South Africa, the wealthiest nation on the continent, is heading in exactly the same direction as the rest of the continent, due to people like you. Sheeple who are following their ANC masters. There are a few people in S.A. who have the balls to call a spade a spade, one of them being the current president's own BROTHER who has stated that the uncontrolled corruption at every level of government is a huge problem.

4. I wish Tambo, Mabeka, Masekela, etc..had been positive about S.A. when they were exiles. After all, they had no right to voice their opinions on South Africa seeing they didn't even live there. See how stupid that makes you sound?

5. Please go back to S.A., as you're the perfect ANC lemming and truly belong there with that attitude.

banjo

Actually as you ask....I left as a direct result of being the victim of two crimes personally. If I had stayed I would have then been subjected to an horrific crime at my place of work less than two months later - I for one am glad that I got out when I did.

Similarly I was never 'die baas' Though I am South African (and for the most part, proud of it) I have spent most of my life outside of SA this probably helps my assessment of the country to be less 'emotional' and more grounded in reality.

No one can say that SA isn't an amazingly beautiful country....full of diversity. It has so much potential, but sadly the reality is that it is riddled with corruption at the top to unemployment, crime and poverty at the bottom of the social ladder. You can deny it all you like but those are the facts.

lenandsons

Funny that seeing as how SA is rated as having the 18th strongest economy in the world. Crime figures have been coming down, as has unemplyment etc etc. Yes there are definate challenges ahead, but that makes it more interesting. As you have spent most of your life outside SA, by your own admission, I feel that you look at it from a 1 sided and very emotional perspective. As a direct crime victim you view the country in a bad light, as would a Brit who experienced crime in the UK etc. Maybe you should think about backing off and looking at your own doom and gloom version !!!

lenandsons

That is the plan DOLL you and cannot wait. As for being stupid well that is the ritch coming from you!!!
Actually I am no ANC supporter so follow your own advice but then again, someone like you ... YAWN you are a waste of effort.
Oh and talking about constitutions .... SA constitution is widely regarded as the best in the world !! Hmmmmm amazing that, especially when the US constitution when drafted treated all men a sequal.... as long as you were white Anglo Saxon !!!!!!!!! Great model that one !!!!!

TouristTrap

18th strongest economy in the world????

You've obviously been reading HCR. There can be no other explanation.

As to the crime coming down? Y

You have been listening to the ANC or StatsSA propaganda. Crime is on the increase, not decrease. People have just stopped reporting it as they know it is no use.

Employment has come down? You must be Leon Schuster. Trevor Manuel himself admitted that there is absolutely no solution to this problem. It stands at 40% right now.

Banjo is looking at the situation without rose-colored glasses as you seem to have. Spend a couple of weeks on holiday there and all of a sudden you're the expert.

You, of course, are entitled to want to live there. But don't come on a board and state that all is hunky dory and it is all roses, when everyone knows that it isn't.

And above all, stop reading HCR. There is no other explanation other than it is an ANC backed site to promote the ones who actually pay taxes - as opposed to the taxi drivers in S.A. who are a multi BILLION rand industry and don't pay a penny's worth of tax on their earnings, and if they are asked to, go on a major rampage throughout the cities causing havoc - to return, seeing that their little golden goose is coming to an end soon.