# General enquiry



## loei (Dec 4, 2012)

I'm a semi-retired Irishman who lives on a small farm with my partner of 31 years standing in Colonia departmento of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay. I'm very happy with my life here but I'm getting old.

My partner has never managed to master Spanish properly so when my time comes to peg it, he will probably want to sell up here (where no English is spoken) and move himself to an English speaking environment. 

One of his possible relocation destinations is South Africa. According to the various SA gov web sites I've looked at, he has more than enough assets to qualify for residency. I spent a fun 6 months over there in 1971 but was provided with a free ticket to London for having a "baaad attitud" in the view of certain secret policemen. I worked in Pretoria but spent some time in the Western Cape which (as far as I recall) offered all that he might desire for resettlement.

41 years is a long time and things have changed a lot since then so I'm here to listen to the views of expats about the current state of the country and to ask a selection of silly questions. I'll beg your forbearance in advance 

Patrick.


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## Sara-J (Dec 12, 2012)

What country is your partner from? Where do his family live? What makes him want to come to SA in particular?


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## loei (Dec 4, 2012)

He's a retired Brit and has been considering NZ, Oz and SA.

Both NZ and Oz seem to require that retired emigrants make a very large capital deposit with their respective governments at pitiful rates of interest so he'd have to accept a major cut in his income if he chose NZ or Oz. Having read the SA gov blurb wrt the income and capital requirements, it seems that South Africa offers more lenient terms than NZ or Oz.

Being old, we are both orphans


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## Sara-J (Dec 12, 2012)

Well I find the people here are very friendly and welcoming and the weather is great so I am enjoying it here. I struggle a bit with the security aspect of things but maybe if I stopped reading the news every day I wouldn't be so scared. I hear things are safer further down south than where I am but I think so long as you are aware of your surroundings then all is fine. Why does your partner not want to return to the UK? Apart from the obvious answer of the poor weather haha


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## loei (Dec 4, 2012)

His best option would be to pull a finger out, learn our local version of Spanish and stay here in laid back Uruguay but he's just not good at foreign languages. We arrived here in the early '00s when the UK was still booming and Uruguay was in economic tatters thanks to the local banking collapse of 2002 so we managed to resettle and buy a fertile farm here amongst the descendants of the Swiss, Piemontese and French Canadian refugee settlers for pennies. 9 years later the UK is deep in the economic doo-dah and Uruguay has been booming especially for us tax exempt farmers.

We have a pack of dogs, cats and horses which adds a further discouragement to returning to the UK. We both usually visit the UK annually (one at a time at different times of year) as we still have some small rented houses in east Suffolk but the place isn't exactly cheerful and welcoming is it? 

I'm a great admirer of ostriches so I gave away the TV set in 2005 and find that life seems much more pleasant without international news.

From what I've read, violent crime seems to be the greatest worry over there. Do you know how bad it is in rural parts of the Western Cape? 

There are direct flights from Buenos Aires to ZA nowadays so maybe a its time to come and have a look. I'm due to visit the hospital next Friday but if I'm spared an immediate and nasty end, we'll come on over for a visit. Uruguay is a lovely but flat sort of place and my memories of ZA's stunning scenery and the dry wit of the people draws me back.


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## Sara-J (Dec 12, 2012)

That was a big step you took moving there then, could you speak the language before moving there? Do they not speak English much there, I know many countries seem to.

Would your partner want to relocate all the animals to SA too? No England is not welcoming at all, I am not missing it one bit.

I do not know about the Western Cape I'm afraid, all I have heard though is that it is safer than JoBurg. I do think this country has many positives and I have no regrets about moving here. Although if your partner does not have anyone here that he knows won't he get lonely until he makes friends? Its not like the UK where you can talk to the neighbours over the garden fence haha


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## loei (Dec 4, 2012)

He's a former accountant who specialised in bankruptcy so he's used to being treated as a leper back in the UK. One of the few advantages of being a wrinklie is that people are usually kind and helpful.

I'm an Irish wild goose so settling in foreign lands comes easy for me. I left the old country as a teenager and have lived/worked in England, Senegal, the USA, Thailand and Laos for many years. I was taught Latin as a kid so grasping our strange local version of Spanish wasn't much of a problem for me. You find a few English speakers in Montevideo and in the tourist places along the coast but here in rural Colonia its rare to meet one. Its just unfortunate that so few Latin Americans speak Latin... even fewer than Irishmen who speak Irish 

Most of the new immigrants here are USA-ians and I always advise enquirers to come on down and see the place for themselves as its the only way to decide whether its right for them. I reckon its time to heed my own advice with respect to the Cape


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## zizebra (Mar 11, 2012)

Ran out of words. But yes Cape Town is safer. My only worry is that generally staying in secluded places such as farms and plots is often trickier with all SA. Perhaps someone have lived in those and can give better advice.


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