Remote work in South Africa?

[slimeball]

I think Cape Town is still an awesome place to live. You meet people from all over the world here and there are a lot of things to do. It's one of a handful of SA's remaining functional cities. Forget JHB currently as the place is collapsing due to neglect and incompetence.

 

[Ancalagon]

What about KZN? Disaster area?

 

[slimeball]

What about KZN? Disaster area?

Many predict UBaba to take the throne there

 

[Zurg]

Hey everyone!

My wife and I are considering leaving England - we're looking for a new home. England is just too cold, the houses too small, and the taxes too high for what you get.

We have a few options, and I'm wanting to investigate SA a bit more closely. If we return to SA, I'd prefer to not have to live in Joburg or Cape Town. I don't want to pay high property prices and want a slower pace of life. So, remote work is ideal for that, question is, how common is it? How easy would it be to get a job? Bonus points if you have stories about working for international companies where they pay you in dollars. Also, if you don't mind sharing, how much is everyone making when working remotely?

Other options include the USA and Spain. The issue with the USA is that getting in is really hard. I've got a fairly good career profile now so my chances of getting sponsorship are not zero, but neither are the chances high. I worry that if we go all in on the USA, we'd be living in England for years to come.

Spain would be much easier to get into because of the digital nomad visa and because my wife has an EU passport. Great weather, friendly people, still in Europe, but completely different culture. I mean, pretty different. I've been there on holiday and liked it but living there might be a different story.

SA is well SA. I love the place - best weather, friendly people, culture that I know well - but I worry about the future with NHI, politics, the economy, Eskom etc.

Go to the isle of man.

 

[B-1]

Yeah I've noticed that remote work is more difficult to come by lately. I recently changed jobs and the selection of remote jobs is smaller.

There seems to be more EU remote jobs though.

Living in SA would likely require me to form some special arrangement with an international company. Could be difficult. Or start my own business. Doing what exactly, I don't know! Consulting or something perhaps. Would require me to build a brand etc etc.

Anyway, we won't move for some time.

Yes, I know how high the SA taxes are - you're right, they are higher than taxes in the UK.

And I know that nostalgia is part of it - SA will never be what it was when I was younger. Even the years between 2010 and 2020 were fantastic (despite Zuma). Now... maybe it has turned a corner, I don't know. But its still rotting.

Still, SA has this knack for making it easy to have a good life. Cheap property, friendly culture and fantastic weather. Hard to beat.

Career wise I would much rather hang around Europe. Even if the job is remote there are always reasons to keep employees at least close to the continent should laws or regulation or various other things change like getting a big promotion.

Rather spend 3 months a year somewhere in the garden route working or just have regular holidays in SA.

 

[PaulGherkin]

Career wise I would much rather hang around Europe. Even if the job is remote there are always reasons to keep employees at least close to the continent should laws or regulation or various other things change like getting a big promotion.

Rather spend 3 months a year somewhere in the garden route working or just have regular holidays in SA.

I agree, for reasons too long to elaborate on here. America isn't the wonderful place people seem to think it is, anymore. It's become quite the schithole..

 

[Snyper564]

Career wise I would much rather hang around Europe. Even if the job is remote there are always reasons to keep employees at least close to the continent should laws or regulation or various other things change like getting a big promotion.

Rather spend 3 months a year somewhere in the garden route working or just have regular holidays in SA.

Yeah this might also be an option, was in Serbia about 2 years ago DIRT CHEAP by SA standards but you looking at European living.

Bit of a language barrier but beautiful country.

 

[PaulGherkin]

Yeah this might also be an option, was in Serbia about 2 years ago DIRT CHEAP by SA standards but you looking at European living.

Bit of a language barrier but beautiful country.

If you can handle government censorship and other restrictions, even Turkey is a viable option

 

[Ancalagon]

Career wise I would much rather hang around Europe. Even if the job is remote there are always reasons to keep employees at least close to the continent should laws or regulation or various other things change like getting a big promotion.

Rather spend 3 months a year somewhere in the garden route working or just have regular holidays in SA.

Yeah, look career wise Europe is the place to be, no doubt about it.

But for raising a family and just... living, South Africa is hard to beat.

If I could somehow get remote work that paid well by South African standards (R2m per year), we could have an amazing life.

Which I know is a big ask. It's a lot less than my current salary in Europe as a software engineering manager. I might have to think about running my own consultancy business or something.

EDIT: To elaborate on this, the amazing climate that South Africa has coupled with the cheap property and generally beautiful scenery is a difficult combo to beat when choosing a country to live in. Provided I earn enough money for us to be able to afford private schools, we could have a good life in SA. I could probably work for a bank in SA and earn this kind of money, but I'd prefer to not have to live in Johannesburg or Cape Town. Joburg seems to be non functioning. Cape Town is beautiful but I don't want to live there.

 

[cguy]

I agree, for reasons too long to elaborate on here. America isn't the wonderful place people seem to think it is, anymore. It's become quite the schithole..

Lol. How so?

 

[cguy]

Career wise I would much rather hang around Europe. Even if the job is remote there are always reasons to keep employees at least close to the continent should laws or regulation or various other things change like getting a big promotion.

Rather spend 3 months a year somewhere in the garden route working or just have regular holidays in SA.

Agreed. Something I've noticed, is that while I really enjoy visiting SA, if I have a longer trip (> 1 month), or visit in consecutive years, the allure of my "birth country" fades pretty quickly.

 

[B-1]

Agreed. Something I've noticed, is that while I really enjoy visiting SA, if I have a longer trip (> 1 month), or visit in consecutive years, the allure of my "birth country" fades pretty quickly.

The only way to replace nostalgia is with reality. We tend to long for something until you get it in a small dose and realise its not what you though it was.

 

[Riebens]

What about the Garden Route. Mossel bay, George, Sedgefield, etc. Best weather, one of the most beautiful parts of the country and best run local governments in SA.

I would not worry about NHI, it will stay only an election promise like EWC in 2019.

I live in the Garden Route and run my software development company from here, customers from Australia, EU and UK, Africa and USA - some of my customers i have never seen physically - just virtually ...

Been doing that since 2001 and no issues working from a rural area in South Africa, that has some of the best remaining municipal services and walking 130 meters to the office from my home...

We have 500Mbps/250Mbps fibre here, low contention ratios, so on average a higher share of the capacity than in cities.

 

[Y'all Qaeda]

Yeah, look career wise Europe is the place to be, no doubt about it.

But for raising a family and just... living, South Africa is hard to beat.

If I could somehow get remote work that paid well by South African standards (R2m per year), we could have an amazing life.

Which I know is a big ask. It's a lot less than my current salary in Europe as a software engineering manager. I might have to think about running my own consultancy business or something.

EDIT: To elaborate on this, the amazing climate that South Africa has coupled with the cheap property and generally beautiful scenery is a difficult combo to beat when choosing a country to live in. Provided I earn enough money for us to be able to afford private schools, we could have a good life in SA. I could probably work for a bank in SA and earn this kind of money, but I'd prefer to not have to live in Johannesburg or Cape Town. Joburg seems to be non functioning. Cape Town is beautiful but I don't want to live there.

Raising a family and schooling your kids remotely then? Sure, there are still some good schools around, but you'd have to either board your kids to get them there or you'd having a hell of a commute there and back or alternatively, you'd have to spend a lot of bucks to live close by. And, bearing in mind that the new education act was passed recently, so depending on how old your kids are, are you willing to risk whether ZA schooling will still be recognized 10 or more years from now?

If you're thinking of letting kids run around and being kids, a lot of that is different in ZA as well. You're remembering with rose coloured glasses.

 

[Ancalagon]

Raising a family and schooling your kids remotely then? Sure, there are still some good schools around, but you'd have to either board your kids to get them there or you'd having a hell of a commute there and back or alternatively, you'd have to spend a lot of bucks to live close by. And, bearing in mind that the new education act was passed recently, so depending on how old your kids are, are you willing to risk whether ZA schooling will still be recognized 10 or more years from now?

If you're thinking of letting kids run around and being kids, a lot of that is different in ZA as well. You're remembering with rose coloured glasses.

Well, remote as in not living in JHB but not necessarily in the sticks. More likely, we'd base ourselves in a provincial town or city with decent schools. We'd send them to private schools of course - will need to research this more but I hear some private schools let your kids get the equivalent of UK A levels. I guess those would be international schools.

True, but some things haven't really changed. It's still a great place to live, especially if you have sufficient money. We should have enough to buy a house cash, the thing that I'll need to do research on is can I earn enough money from international companies to afford a decent standard of living including private schooling?