Has anyone emigrated to Botswana from SA?

I have a friend who moved there on a job offer. I wrote a testimonial for him to get residency or something. You need three character witnesses to write those. Not sure what the rest of the process is as he was head hunter out of Eskom.
 
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A friend moved there about 5 years ago. Visited last year. Crime is MUCH less than here. He bought a farm on some rivere there. Beautiful. Like Hemi said, people are more friendly.
 
Funny that you ask... I've been considering this move for myself recently.
Sticking around to see what people have to say about it.

EDIT: I was also looking at Namibia but apparently they don't take South African's easily as they don't want us moving there, lol.
 
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carstensdj said:
Funny that you ask... I've been considering this move for myself recently.
Sticking around to see what people have to say about it.

EDIT: I was also looking at Namibia but apparently they don't take South African's easily as they don't want us moving there, lol.
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Makes sense, I wouldn't want South Africans either if I had the choice.
 
income tax is way less
there are some decent ex pat places and the lifestyle felt more relaxed and less stressful
 
I did not emmigrate but worked in Botswana for approx 2 years on a mine construction project. It's a nice place and slower paced than SA. Less developed than SA or even Windhoek. Same SA companies. Large SA community. You are a less than a couple of hours flight from Joburg should you miss it.

As for emmigrating there are a few issues to consider:
1. Very hot summers
2. They also had power cuts similar to Eskom (due to defects on a Chinese built power station).
3. They had water cuts then - due to drought. Probably that's been sorted.
4. A number of programmes and policies aimed at supporting citizen economic empowerment have been implemented. One consequence of this is that work permits are now difficult to get. Also getting govt contracts is easier with a local partner.
5. If I were to emmigrate there I would be worried about the long term sustainability of the economy. They are trying to diversify from mining but they have still not managed to diversify the economy from diamonds. What happens when those run out?
6. This is probably an unfair point given that Botswana has been stable for so long - but like any other African country you always fear they are one bad leader away from trouble.
 
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Azg said:
I did not emmigrate but worked in Botswana for approx 2 years on a mine construction project. It's a nice place and slower paced than SA. Less developed than SA or even Windhoek. Same SA companies. You are a less than a couple of hours flight from Joburg should you miss it.

As for emmigrating there are a few issues to consider:
1. Very hot summers
2. They also had power cuts similar to Eskom (due to defects on a Chinese built power station)
3. Water cuts - due to drought
4. A number of programmes and policies aimed at supporting citizen economic empowerment have been implemented.
5. If I were to emmigrate there I would be worried about the long term sustainability of the economy. They are trying to diversify from mining but they have still not managed to diversify the economy from diamonds. What happens when those run out?
6. This is probably an unfair point given that Botswana has been stable for so long - but like any other African country you always fear they are one bad leader away from trouble.
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As long as De Beers are there it will be good. Also their leader is good, but if a bad one comes.
 
Education I hear is also good. Uni education is subsidized by government so you will meet a lot of people with like masters and PhD's there apparently, especially in Gabarone. Not sure of the quality of their degree's but from the people I knew who went there regularly the population in general is far more educated. Similar to SA they also have a lot of Zimbabweans fleeing the chaos in Zim and that is bringing new dynamics to the economy.

One guy I asked about it also said the government tries to put out a very pro western vibe and look like they are leagues ahead of the other local governments. Hence them being the only country in the AU to call out Mugabe when none of the others was willing to do so. He however said under the surface they are not as squeaky clean as the image they put out. There is a fair bit of African politics in there too with the usual corruption, etc.
 
Cius said:
Education I hear is also good. Uni education is subsidized by government so you will meet a lot of people with like masters and PhD's there apparently, especially in Gabarone. Not sure of the quality of their degree's but from the people I knew who went there regularly the population in general is far more educated. Similar to SA they also have a lot of Zimbabweans fleeing the chaos in Zim and that is bringing new dynamics to the economy.

One guy I asked about it also said the government tries to put out a very pro western vibe and look like they are leagues ahead of the other local governments. Hence them being the only country in the AU to call out Mugabe when none of the others was willing to do so. He however said under the surface they are not as squeaky clean as the image they put out. There is a fair bit of African politics in there too with the usual corruption, etc.
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Not sure about the quality of their education given that they rely on South Africa for technical skills even today.
They're obviously trying to develop local but as is they rely on SA and other foreign countries.
 
Method said:
Makes sense, I wouldn't want South Africans either if I had the choice.
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I work in gauteng; mostly work with south africans - what problems exactly do you face with them that you wouldn't with any other nationality? :unsure: :p
 
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