What with the country in a rather dire situation (I know of people who couldn’t watch the double episode of Grey’s Anatomy last week because of the Eskom situation) it is surely only a matter of time before we all start heading to greener pastures (unless the DA can do some sort of miracle work in the very near future). But, for us Saffas who hold proud our ‘green mamba’, where in the world can we actually go?

I’ll bet you didn’t know that there are 97 countries we can go to without visas. Sure, some of the places will make you your visa on arrival, but that sure beats the abominable mess that is trying to obtain a Schengen visa for Europe from Cape Town.

How to make it easier? It’s the train of thought we should be taking. It’s simple, really, as long as you have a few million in the bank. You see, there are a few nice countries out there who want people, as long as you can invest.

Citizenship by investment programmes is an option for the well-heeled: countries such as Malta sell residence permits or citizenship in exchange for financial investment in the country.
The United Kingdom, the United States, Malta and Cyprus are among the most popular options to South Africans seeking to emigrate. Each has a citizenship or residence-permit programme established by its government.

Believe it or not, the demand for this from South Africans is on the rise. Chris Watters, a lawyer working on immigration and emigration, says his firm is getting almost “10 emigration inquiries a day”. Henley & Partners, another company specialising in residence and citizenship programmes, has seen “an increase of 50% more inquiries from South Africans in comparison to the same time last year”.

But what prices are we looking at to GTFOH?

Great. Dominica it is.

Kevin Anderson (who just beat French Open champion Stan Wawrinka, by the way) is in the process of emigrating to the US (his wife is American) and is receiving quite a bit of flack for it.

Yeah, the process is underway. Hopefully I will be approved and have US citizenship in the summer. I’ll keep my African citizenship and hopefully have the dual citizenship.

Kev has been strongly criticised “for refusing to play for his country’s Davis Cup team since 2011 to leave open a potential switch to the US squad”. A new ruling from the International Tennis Federation could see that change soon, though.

A player will be allowed to represent only one country at senior level during his career.

Good luck to you all – best you start that piggy bank now.

[Source: Mail & Guardian and Sport24]