Start by contacting a MARA registered agent for a free assessment. I used Marlene Prentice, google her for her details. Most people make the first mistake of calculating their own points and make a massive miscalculation.
You will qualify for a skilled independent visa as a software developer as long as you make the points, as far as I can tell they recently moved the point cut off from 60 to 65 this year. Points are calculated using age, degrees and work experience as well as points on IELTS (english) test and a few other criteria.
You can take a max of R1 million a year without having to go through SARS, and a max for R10 million a year with SARS consent.
Pension funds you can cash in (with the tax taken off). RAs are tricky as you have to financially emigrate to cash in and move which involves closing all financial ties in SA. I didn't go this route as I still rent a property.
The process will be somewhat as follows:
* Get agent assessment
* Get degrees verified (in your case Australian Computing Society (ACS))
* Get work experience verified (in your case Australian Computing Society (ACS))
* Get reference letters for last 10 years of employment to submit to ACS with above verification
* Do English test (IELTS) - book ASAP as there is generally a 3 month waiting list) - Also make sure you study for this, it is not a simple english test and many tricks are included to catch you out and check for higher english reasoning and comprehension in 4 fields - speaking, listening, reading, writing.
* Fill out all relevant paperwork.
* Submit Expression Of Interest (EOI)
* Hopefully EOI is granted by Aus immigration
* Get Police Clearance Certificate (PCC)
* Do medicals
* Submit VISA Application
* Wait a few months and hopefully get a grant.
Costs when I did my application end of last year:
* ACS Assessment - AUD$450
* Agent - $5000
* IELTS - R3200 per person
* Medicals - R1500 per person
* PCC - R100 per person
* VISA - main application - $3600 per person
* VISA - sub applicant - $1800
All in all I would say for me and my GF it cost us about R80k excluding flights etc. and we also only had to pay agent $1500 instead of $5000. For a husband and wife the full application could realistically cost about R130k if all goes smoothly. Obviously it will be more with the kids etc.
You need to be very careful making this decision as it could very realistically, and most probably will set you back to 0. You probably won't own a home unless you have a few million and willing to live far from the city or have about R20 mill for a home about 30 min train ride from the city (Melbourne). You may be making the move for your kids but you very realistically may have to settle with your kids helping you out in your later years depending on your financial situation. Not trying to scare you off but bring to light the seriousness of the financial implications of the choice. I just turned 30 and after all the money I've saved over the years as well as living in Melbourne since March I have $8000 to my name.
I've moved to Melbourne, weather is **** but it is cheaper than Sydney and there is the comfort of more job availability than smaller places like Brisbane. Not sure how kids would fit in to schools. Public schooling will cost about $100 dollars a year as it is subsidised. Medical is expensive for premium packages and is more like medical insurance, there is no medical aid here and most things will wind up costing you an amount of cash no matter what. Make sure you get a Permanent Resident visa rather than a working visa otherwise you dont get medicare etc. Pension is managed through superannuation of which a min of 9.5% of your salary is put away by your employer towards it. This amount is set to increase to 15% or 20% over the next 10 or so years. Areas are dependent on city you want to move to etc. Remember places like Brisbane will pay lower that Melbourne or Sydney.
Look at
www.saaustralia.org and join the South Africans Moving to Australia, South Africans Moving To Melbourne, South Africans Living in Melbourne and similar facebook groups.
I can help you along with the details of the individual parts of the process if you like but I would say do as much reading as you can on every little details as you can and then do more research. Start by looking into the 189 visa and contact Marlene.
EDIT: Important, if you are serious about this then do yourself a favour and go get your, your wifes, and all your kids unabridged birth certs from home affairs NOW. an unabridged cert has both parents names and details on. Also go renew your passports so it has 10 years validity on it. It takes staying in Aus for 4 years to get citizenship.
