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Ready to trade in saying ‘braai’ for ‘barbie’, and ‘ja no well fine’ for ‘fair dinkum’?

The last one doesn’t really correspond, but you get the drift.

If you’re a South African who is planning on emigrating to Australia on a state-nominated visa, the clock is ticking.

From October 6, the Australian government announces its quotas for the Skilled Migration programme, so it’s best to have everything in order by then.

There are no guarantees regarding how many permanent Australian visas the government will issue for the year, and competition is likely to be stiff, so you’ll want to be near the top of that pile when the day rolls around.

You may also want to check through your social media posts, because Ozzie law enforcement appears to be rather unforgiving.

One thing we do know is what it will cost so secure a Business and Innovation Visa, or an Investment Visa.

Let’s start with the former, with this info via The South African:

This is a visa for those looking to start or buy into a business in Australia. It can lead to permanent residency for you and your family. The main requirement is that for two out of the four fiscal years prior to applying, you need to have owned a business that had at least AUD 500,000 (around R6,1 million) turnover per year.

You and your business partner also have to have a total net business and personal worth of at least AUD 800,000 (around R9,7 million) that can be used to establish a business in Australia.

As a guideline, you need to be under 55, or “able to demonstrate substantial economic benefit to the state”.

Just under R10 million net business and personal worth between business partners, and a stellar financial year behind you, which might be tricky given that we’re in a pandemic and all.

The numbers are even more sizeable if you’re after an Investment Visa, which is basically you buying your way in:

This visa requires that you demonstrate a successful career in managing businesses or investments. If invited to apply for this visa you will need to invest $1.5M (around R18,2 million) into Australia state government bonds. You are paid a small return on these over a four-year period and then recoup your initial investment amount. This is a temporary four-year visa which then can be converted to permanent residency in Australia.

Again, being under 55 is preferable, or the “economic benefit to the state” angle.

I’d say pumping in a touch over R18 million is pretty beneficial.

For those who can’t call on troves of money, there are two other options – the Skilled Nominated visa, and the Skilled Work Regional (Provisional) visa.

You can find more details on both of those here.

Just remember that you don’t get bonus points for badmouthing South Africa once you touch down in Australia.

Leave that to those of us who still live here.

[source:southafrican]