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Step-by-step plan · Visa required

The step-by-step plan for South Africa

From "we want this" to being settled, in 37 steps. Read phase 1 in full here. Test your departure date along the way. Then you'll know whether you want the rest.

37 steps5 phases60 official sources6 only for your situationchecked on 9 September 2026

Phase 1 starts below ↓The whole plan: € 399 one-off, no subscription.

What it looks like

Not a PDF, not a checklist. A plan that knows what needs to happen now.

Every step sits in its place in the order, with the lead time, the counter and the official source. You tick off, your partner ticks along, and the plan counts back from your departure date: what has to start when, and what is running now.

Below is phase 1, exactly as it appears in the plan.

The dashboard of the step-by-step plan for South Africa: the current phase, the open steps, the next step and the deadline bar.

The route

  1. Orientation

    5 steps

    Open · You are here

  2. Your visa

    6 steps

    In your plan

  3. Closing the Netherlands

    14 steps

    In your plan

  4. The move

    4 steps

    In your plan

  5. Arrival in South Africa

    8 steps

    In your plan

Phase 1 is the question "can we, and do we want to?". From phase 2 the arranging begins.

Phase 1 · Orientation

5 of 5 steps open

South Africa is not an EU move but a visa journey with a department that is notoriously slow — and at the same time a country where the sums work out surprisingly well: full AOW export, an exemption for foreign pensions, no jet lag and half the housing costs. This phase puts the routes and the honest reality side by side.

By the end of phase 1 you know the visa routes and their requirements, you've had the honest conversation about safety and distance, the route choice is prepared and the family is behind the decision.

Step 1.1

Understand the system: your residence is a visa, and the department is slow

Lead time:
reading step
Costs:
none

Unlike in the EU, your residence here is a visa — applied for before departure, with requirements per route and an end date that has to be watched. And the honesty up front: the Department of Home Affairs is notorious for its processing times. Work visas take two to five months in practice, permanent residence one to two years, and the government has itself acknowledged the backlogs by collectively extending pending applications. That's no reason to give up — it's the reason this journey revolves around timing.

One rule you have to know from day one: whoever overstays their visa by even a single day is marked as an "undesirable person" on departure — up to 30 days' overstay that's an entry ban of one year, above that five years. So submit extensions well in time; the step-by-step plan watches that clock.

Checked against the official source

The official sources for this step

Step 1.2

Explore the routes: pension, assets, work or partner

Lead time:
an evening of reading, and the conversation about it
Costs:
none

Four main routes, each with its own sum. The retired person visa for whoever shows R 37,000 a month per applicant in pension or investment income — note: per applicant, so a couple shows double. The financially independent route for whoever has R 12 million in net assets and wants direct permanent residence. The remote work visa for whoever brings their Dutch work along (R 650,796 gross a year). And the work routes via the points system, where the Critical Skills List — with many technical tradespeople — is the fastest way. Whoever has a South African partner also has the spousal route, with a work endorsement that has to be arranged separately. The choice decides everything after this; phase 2 works it out.

Checked against the official source

The official sources for this step

Step 1.3

Get a picture of what it's going to cost

Lead time:
1-2 hours with the calculator
Costs:
none

The big items here are different from Europe: shipping a container (six to ten weeks in transit), the private health insurance that is your own responsibility from day one, and the pet whose crossing runs into thousands of euros. Against that, life itself is considerably cheaper — rents are a third to half of the Dutch level. Work it out with your own choices. And the car doesn't need to be in the sum: it can't come.

Step 1.4

Take the decision together

Lead time:
no fixed one; take your time
Costs:
none

South Africa asks for the most honest conversation of all destinations on this site. Safety: the crime figures are high by Dutch standards — it's neighbourhood- and behaviour-dependent, and it's falling, but living behind security is the norm in the cities and you have to want that. The distance: eleven and a half hours of flying, and family doesn't just drop by — though there's no jet lag, because the time difference is zero to one hour. Healthcare in old age: private healthcare is excellent, but the premium rises with the years and there's no Dutch safety net. And the outlook: a country with large social differences and unemployment above thirty percent asks that you start with open eyes — and preferably with your own income. Whoever has this conversation honestly and still wants it has the best reason.

Step 1.6

Choose your target date

Lead time:
five minutes, below
Costs:
none

Choose below the date on which you want to be standing in South Africa. The step-by-step plan works out whether that's feasible with what still has to happen — the visa processing time is the longest item here — and from that moment watches the clocks: the six months' validity of police clearances, the two months for the pet permit and the extension deadline of your visa.

Phase 1 read

You know what you're getting into. Now the arranging begins.

You've read phase 1 of the step-by-step plan for South Africa. The full plan has another 32 steps ready for you: Your visa, Closing the Netherlands, The move and Arrival in South Africa.

The plan counts everything back from your departure date, watches your deadlines and documents, and shows only the steps that apply to you.

The step-by-step plan for South Africa

€ 399

one-off · no subscription · instant access

Continue with the full plan · € 399

Also included: deadlines watched · documents with expiry dates · only your steps · your partner ticks along · all cancellation letters · questions to Auke.

✎ Auke reads along

Stuck somewhere? Ask your question at the step. Auke reads it himself and answers within two working days.

Not ready yet? Send yourself your date and phase 1 →

Phase 2 · Your visa0 of 6 steps open

The application is a file of evidence: income or assets, clearances from every country you lived in, and everything apostilled. The police clearances are only valid for six months — so the order of gathering is itself a clock. And since July 2026 the medical report has been scrapped; checklists that still mention it are out of date.

  1. 2.1Make the route choice finala week of calculating and comparing
  2. 2.2Gather the documents: clearances and apostilles4-8 weeks; the police clearance is valid for 6 months
  3. 2.3Build the proof of income or assets2-4 weeks, partly at your pension fund or accountant
  4. 2.4Submit at the embassy in The Haguethe appointment plus the processing time; count in months
  5. 2.5The waiting time: what you can and can't dothe processing time itself; use it
  6. 2.6After issue: know your validity and your extension clockan hour of reading that saves months later
Open all steps · € 399
Phase 3 · Closing the Netherlands0 of 14 steps open

The familiar list, with two big differences. There's no healthcare treaty: no S1, no CAK — you arrange your private insurance before departure, because the visa asks for it. And the tax treaty is a source-state treaty: the Netherlands keeps levying on AOW, pension and annuity — but South Africa largely exempts foreign pensions, so you don't pay twice.

  1. 3.1Arrange your healthcare: private, and before departurecomparing and taking out 2-4 weeks
  2. 3.2AOW and pension: the Netherlands levies, South Africa exemptsthe report is an afternoon; the sum is an evening
  3. 3.3The tax wind-up: M return and the protective assessmentthe M return follows in the year after departure
  4. 3.4Stop allowances, and inform the SVBan hour
  5. 3.5Deregister with the municipalityfive working days before departure, not earlier
  6. 3.6DigiD, bank and your vote: keep the lines with the Netherlandsan afternoon
  7. 3.7Documents: apostilles, and a file that keeps travelling with you2-3 weeks
  8. 3.8Partner comes along without a job of their ownonly if this applies to you
  9. 3.9Living partly in the Netherlands: the eight-month ruleonly if this applies to you
  10. 3.10The house in the Netherlands: sell, rent out or keeponly if this applies to you
  11. 3.11Children staying in the Netherlands: DUO, healthcare and the houseonly if this applies to you
  12. 3.12Cancel what stops: job, rent, energy, subscriptions and schoolstart three months before departure; most notice periods are one month
  13. 3.13Stay reachable: DigiD, your phone number, your bank and your postarrange it before you leave; afterwards it takes weeks
  14. 3.14Student debt, remote work or your own business: what moves with youreport it before you leave; the consequences run for years
Phase 4 · The move0 of 4 steps open

The container takes six to ten weeks and the household contents are exempt — provided the form is right. The car doesn't come: left-hand drive cars are simply banned in South Africa. And the pet has the longest lead time of everyone: you apply for the import permit at least two months before departure.

  1. 4.1The container: six to ten weeks, and form DA 304quotes 6-8 weeks ahead; the voyage itself 6-10 weeks
  2. 4.2The car: sell it, because left-hand drive can't enter the countrysale 2-4 weeks before departure
  3. 4.3The pet: the two-month permitonly if this applies to you
  4. 4.4The flight: eleven and a half hours, zero jet lagbook as soon as the visa is there
Phase 5 · Arrival in South Africa0 of 8 steps open

The papers are in; now it becomes a life. The tax authority and the bank both want a file, you choose the house by neighbourhood before price, the school by quintile — and the clocks keep running: the extension sixty days before expiry, and for permanent holders into the country at least once every three years.

  1. 5.1SARS: register your tax statusregistration within weeks of settling
  2. 5.2The bank: the FICA filedays to two weeks, provided the file is complete
  3. 5.3Housing: choose the neighbourhood before the houserenting 2-6 weeks; buying at a South African pace
  4. 5.4Healthcare in practice: using the medical aidregistrations and GP choice in the first weeks
  5. 5.5Family: the school by quintile and in practiceonly if this applies to you
  6. 5.6The car: buying right-hand drive, and your driving licencebuy in the first weeks; the driving licence has more time
  7. 5.7Safety as a system, not as fearthe first months are the apprenticeship
  8. 5.8The clocks in the diaryhalf an hour, and then never forget again

6 of these 32 steps only appear when your answers call for them: a pet, a car, a partner without a job, children staying in the Netherlands. That is the difference between a step-by-step plan and a checklist.

Three questions

Can't I find all this for free?

Yes. Everything in the plan comes from official sources, and they're listed at every step. Phase 1 above is the proof. What you buy is the work around it: which of the 32 following steps apply to you, in which order, with which deadline, and a nudge when something needs doing.

Does this apply to my situation too?

The plan first asks who is coming along, what is coming along and how you're leaving the Netherlands. Steps that don't apply to you don't appear; steps that only apply to you do. Is your situation slightly different from what's written? Ask your question at the step; you'll get an answer within two working days.

What if the rules change after I buy?

Then your plan changes with them. Twice a month we check every source; whatever changes is in your plan the same week, with the date. Your access lasts for your whole departure.

Ready to begin?

The step-by-step plan for South Africa: 37 steps, your documents and your costs in one place, with the timing watched. Pay once, and it's yours.

Start your step-by-step plan · € 399Read more about South Africa first