South African Ex-Pats

Sam Beckbessinger has written a book called Moving to the UK. It's perfect for anyone doing just that, and awesome even if you're moving somewhere other than the UK. In my interview with Sam, we talk about: Why and how she wrote "Moving to the UK". How emigrating messes with your head and makes you feel like a helpless baby. Hard choices, and how they are an opportunity to define and redefine your...

NOTE: I will be creating more episodes of this show, but currently my focus is Off the Grid in SA - A practical guide for shedding load-shedding. Here's a brief update on the show and where I'm going with it.  If you don't have a couple of minutes to spare, the short version is that South African Ex-Pats is on hold.  It was a project to help me explore my interest in emigration destinati...

Grant Norman was kind enough to join me to chat about his family's emigration to a suburb just outside Vancouver.  Grant and his wife got into Canada via the Express Entry visa, although it was a few years ago.  Grant's journey was not necessarily smooth, though, and the high cost of living in Canada has certainly not made things easier.  One person Grant wanted to recommend was Dea...

Sorry for the long break, but I went away to Ireland and the UK for a month. More on that coming up in future episodes.  Here's a conversation from the Emigration Expo that I hope will prove revealing. I knew Malta existed, but didn't know much beyond that.  I grabbed 10 minutes with Grahame Salt at the expo so he could give me Malta 101.  Grahame is one of the directors of Frank Sa...

Continuing my short conversations with the exhibitors at the Emigration Expo, I cornered Vaughn from Animal Travel Services for a quick chat about emigrating your pets.  We cover costs, the procedure from start to finish, and some of those interesting questions like "Do pets get sedated for travel" and "Do you transport snakes?". You can support this show by supporting ⁠Luggage Warehous...

Huge thanks to Allen Jones for taking the time to chat to me about shipping your valuables overseas.  I don't fall into the category of people who LOVE their furniture enough to cart it overseas, but I know that there are plenty of people who really do.  I got an amazing sense of integrity and care from Allen and his colleagues (as I got from everyone at the Expo). If you want to chat to...

I attended The Emigration Expo last weekend and recorded some great interviews with the exhibitors. I'll be publishing the interviews as I get them lightly edited so you can catch up if you couldn't make it.  Here's a very short intro with Sarah Howarth, the organiser of the Expo. Sarah give us a little context about The Emigration Expo and tells us where else you can find it if you don't liv...

Don't have an ancestral passport, but DO have a lot of money? Welcome to the world of

Paul Goodwill is an interesting guy. When others moan and groan about how difficult it is to emigrate to first world countries like Canada and Australia, he games the system. These first-world countries don't need marketers and IT managers and so on. They need carpenters, plumbers, electricians, and mechanics.  So Paul spent a few years certifying as a plumber, and that certification was his...

Jo Galloway is a professional actress, singer, dancer, writer and international voice artist.  In 2012 she moved to Los Angeles to take her career to the next level.  Ten years and far too many productions to name later, Jo has worked with Hollywood luminaries like Jimmy Fallon and Seth MacFarlane, and is now back in SA, intending to shuttle between LA and Cape Town depending on where th...

As a minor celebration of the 20th episode of South African Ex-Pats, I'd like to tell you about what it's like to move to and live in Barcelona, Spain. And in my case, why I decided to come back to South Africa.  Barcelona is a city for those who love the good life. Work is secondary to living, there's a brilliant restaurant on every block, and the city itself features many architectural mast...

Sven is a technician who became a financial planner who became a technician again in order to emigrate to Canada. It turns out that they have enough financial planners.  Sven is originally from Bulgaria, but lived in South Africa for 13 years and the visa process he and his South African wife went through is an interesting journey.  About 30 minutes into the interview, Sven mentioned a g...

Sherianne Kramer is an ex-pat post-doc criminal psychologist who moved to Amsterdam to complete her research, and still hasn't come home after 5 years.  She loves the beautiful canals and the calm, safe, stable nature of the city and the country. She describes the Dutch as gentle, deeply traditional, and possessing a secret sense of fun and appreciation for beauty that belies their somewhat d...

Simon is an old friend whose work in the hotel industry has taken him across the world. He and his family are now settled down in Brisbane, Australia, or Brizzo, or Brizza, or Brisby, probably. Australians can't call anything by their actual name.  Simon paints an attractive portrait of the River City, and it certainly made me consider it. Between the access to nature, thriving food scene, sa...

It was a huge pleasure to talk to Steve Reardon, a Durban boy who moved to America and obtained citizenship through a somewhat complex series of misadventures. His point about looking for pull factors of a possible new home rather than focusing on the push factors that are making you want to leave South Africa has stuck with me.  Although I don't see myself as a person who lives in America, I...

In case you're wondering, St. Albans is one of those towns outside of London, but close enough to commute in for work.  Nicole and Warren moved to the UK with their dog, Tyson (not 'Tyrone', as I so cringingly misspeak) and have been there for about 2 years.  You can support this show by supporting ⁠⁠Luggage Warehouse⁠⁠, the business my father started in the 80s,...

My guest, David Ansara from the "Solutions with David Ansara" podcast, is the Chief Operating Office of the Centre for Risk Analysis.  In this episode he gives us a view of the short and long term risks to South Africa and its citizens, and offers us some strategic advice on setting up your plan B.  A plan B is all about making sure that you have as many options as possible. If you don't...

Rita is a copywriter from Cape Town who was offered a job in the capital city of Estonia, Tallinn.  Most people (me included), don't know much about Estonia, and group it vaguely as "one of those eastern bloc countries".  That's correct, but there's far more to it. Here's the first paragraph of its Wikipedia page to get you started:  Officially the Republic of Estonia (Estonian: Ees...

In this episode my guests are Hailey Roos, managing director at Carrick Global Wealth Limited, and Candice Koenig, business consultant at Currency Partners.  Together Hailey and Candice boil down the basics of moving your money offshore, whether you're planning to emigrate or not. We talk about the how much you're allowed to move, what it will cost you, and what the process is. I was pleasant...

Jason is a musician who moved to Dublin during the height of the pandemic last year and has now been living there for a year.  Although his move was logistically and emotionally tough, he's loving the Emerald Isle and has a lot to share about it.  As I mention in the upfront introduction, there is a 4ish minute-long editorial from me about the podcast, what I'm trying to accomplish, and...

In this episode, I was lucky enough to chat to John Dunn, the International Director of UK I EU citizenship & immigration at Sable International.  John very succinctly lays out the various options available for South Africans wishing to emigrate to the UK. Perhaps most exciting, he lets us know about a forthcoming change to legislation in 2022 that may open a door for many more South Afri...

In our last UK episode, I chatted to Edward and Shelley, who actually live just outside London in St. Albans. This time we're in the heart of the Big Smoke. Tanyth and Ollie live in Elephant & Castle, and have some really great big-idea thinking to share about what it's like to live in London and the UK.  Remember that if you have any specific questions you want answered, if you want me t...

I'm very excited to post the show's first expert interview.  Robbie Ragless is the CEO of New World Immigration, a company that assists South Africans with emigration to quite a few different countries and via a variety of means.  However, today we're focusing on Canada, a sought-after destination for many South Africans. It's a sobering conversation, as Robbie lays out the combination o...

Seb and Alex were 23 and 25 when they were offered a position at an advertising agency in Germany. It's been 6 years since then, 3 of them in Frankfurt and another three in Sweden, where they currently live in a small town that IKEA calls home.  If Scandinavia, cinnamon buns, and saunas appeal to you, then Sweden is definitely worth investigating. You can support this show by supporting &#828...

Ed and Shelley are very dear friends of mine who in fact introduced me to my wife. Ed is the UK MD of a medicinal cannabis company based in Canada, and Shelley is a media planner who is building a business around teaching media and strategy to agencies and clients.  I hope you find this insight into life in and near one of South Africa's most popular emigration destinations useful. If you hav...