# Seeking opportunity



## Crabbit (Feb 17, 2013)

Hello dear boardmembers,

First off, I would like to thank you for having such an informative and active board, these are hard to come by these days.

Basically I would like to like to relocate to SA (Eastern Cape and surroundings). I've done a tour of SA, by car, from Joburg - Kruger - Swazi - KwaZulu Natal - EC and WC and ab-so-lute-ly loved it, mostly the EC corner.

I am a Dutch national and my fiancee is British, but was born in Zimbabwe (Rhodesia back then), we reside in Scotland and both seek to relocate to SA. For one, she's lived and grew up there there, and I just fell in love with the climate and atmosphere.

We've did some house hunting whilst we were there as well and found that they're affordable in areas with decent views and travel-times to bigger cities.

Now comes the hardest part; work. I have done some browsing on the board and picked up some URL's and tips here and there, however other than applying through the Internet and just hoping that they'll even reply back, there is not too much to do remotely.

One topic that I haven't seen is that on self-employment/freelance etc, as being a non-SA resident. I tried to dig up some information from the Chamber of Commerce and such on legalities and licensing, but didn't get far. I am an IT professional with 12 years experience in IT infrastructure, early thirties, with plenty of growth potential and eagerness to learn/adapt. I would be interested in starting up some consulting for companies, or even PC support (freelance) to get me kick-started. I have not been freelancing or self-employed so far, but considered it as an alternative.

Also, another idea was to set up a touring company with the misses and do that in the area. The idea seems that tourists are more keen on doing business with a Brit than a local (this is not my opinion, just what has been said alot from whom I talked to in the industry there).

I would appreciate your feedback.

Thanks much!

Crabbit


----------



## LegalMan (Dec 26, 2012)

Hi Crabbit

Well, my honest advice if you want to do it on your own is to investigate a "Quota" Work Permit. Otherwise, "to get a job in SA, you have to be in SA" is my usual sentence.

Working here in South Africa remotely is something that many people do, just make sure to pay your taxes correctly and legally.

Good luck!


----------



## Crabbit (Feb 17, 2013)

Thanks for the swift advice.

I will get cracking on booking my next trip, and work from within.

I will stick around, so I hope to follow up with progress


----------



## Crabbit (Feb 17, 2013)

Found an interesting point of reference for people in the same boat as myself:

Part of the Quota Permit is the 'all clear' from the SAQA. Since I've worked in the industry for 12 years, my (level of) knowledge is not based on my schooling. How would this go about?



> If I have enough experience in one of the fields but no formal qualifications, can I still apply for a quota work permit?
> 
> You need to meet all the requirements of the scarce skills quota permit. If not you may consider applying for general work permit.


----------



## LegalMan (Dec 26, 2012)

Crabbit - I have never seen a Quota permit go through without SAQA and an actual qualification. In South Africa there is something called QBE (Qualified By Experience), but it applies in SA only and usually to previously disadvantaged people.


----------



## Crabbit (Feb 17, 2013)

The information I posted came directly from the DHA website, under the Scarce Skills & Work Permit Quotas bit.

I'll poke around further and contact DHA to see what they say. 

Little bit confused, tho, as in my field, in-work qualifications are not counted for with SAQA, which leaves my original College degree, which is more than a decade old.


----------



## LegalMan (Dec 26, 2012)

The information you posted simply means that you must qualify for the Quota/Scarce Skills Work Permit, or else apply for a General Work Permit, and doesn't really answer the question above it.


----------



## paraskumar0730 (Jul 8, 2013)

Hey Crabbit

I just applied for exceptional skills work permit today. Here is some piece of information for u - 
1. SAQA will only evaluate your Academic qualification.
2. You have to give evidence that you hold exceptional skills. For eg - I am also a software engineer working as an MSBI developer. So, I provided them technical skills reference letter from my employers and provided them certification proofs (Microsoft and Oracle certification).

But if you don't have either of them, then just go and register on 'South Africa Computer Society' and provide the embassy the proof that u are a member of South African society. 

Hope that will help you as I got mad in searching out this information as Immigration officer was not willing to provide any sort of information.


----------



## paraskumar0730 (Jul 8, 2013)

Go for Legal Man's advice..


----------

