surrender retirement annuities. financial emigration. foreign exchange. bank accounts. tax. inheritance. fees.

financial emigration from South Africa

Emigrating from South Africa is a fiscal process which effectively formalises your financial exit from the country – it does not in any way relate to, or interfere with the process you undertook with the immigration authorities of the country in which you now live, when making application to reside therein. Recording your emigrant status with the South African Reserve Bank allows you to:

surrender retirement annuities held with insurance companies in South Africa and transfer the proceeds to wherever you choose
utilise the emigration allowance (currently R8M per family unit) to transfer funds out of South Africa which cannot otherwise be moved via the various personal offshore allowances if you are no longer tax resident in the country
have South African source inheritance transferred direct to your overseas bank account: without emigrant status you will need to make special application to the Reserve Bank retrospectively and there is no guarantee it will be granted
easily remit abroad passive income such as rent, dividends etc., directors fees and salary for services rendered in South Africa and income from discretionary or vesting trusts.
receive the proceeds of life Insurance policies held by South African residents

Once a South African always a South African: it is important to understand that whilst emigrating from South Africa does formalise your financial exit, it doesn't mean that you relinquish your birth-right or citizenship and you can, if you wish, retain your South Africa passport.

Important factors to consider when undertaking the emigration process:

your South African bank account will take on blocked status for Exchange Control purposes: this does place certain regulatory restrictions on the account however you can continue to use it for many of your regular day-to-day transactions.
recording your emigrant status is a tax trigger and may require careful advance planning: this is where a complementary consultation with a member of our tax services team can add real value
control of your remaining South Africa based assets will rest with the bank where you hold your blocked account

Recording your emigration from South Africa is complex process to undertake, especially from overseas, however this is where our unique Retrospective Emigration Solution ™ comes to the rescue: we will facilitate the entire process from start to finish. As part of the service we will provide you with a complete pack of emigration documents which are pre-populated with all of the necessary information required by the authorities – all you need to do is sign.

We offer emigration as a stand-alone service, however if you are applying for such status in order to extract funds locked in retirement annuities you may wish to consider our all-inclusive solution to extract and repatriate funds to your bank account overseas.