Adventures of an Expat in South Africa
Most expats sell their cars in their home country when they leave and buy a new one in South Africa. But what if someone doesn’t want to give their car up? Maybe it’s a vintage model or a custom-made dream car, or maybe they’ve just grown attached to a specific model that isn’t available in South Africa. Whatever the reason for wanting to keep your current car, there are ways to make it happen.
There is a lot of confusion around the topic of a South African driver's license for expats. Do you need one at all? Does it depend on your type of visa? if you do convert your foreign license to a South African one, will you have to take another road test? We've collected reader comments and information from various websites to give you some answers.
You could do no greater disservice to yourself and your family to stay at home and within the confines of your safe neighbourhood. There are beaches, wildlife, amusement parks, museums, scenic drives, and countless other mind-blowing activities all within driving distance of wherever you happen to live in South Africa. Get out there as often as you can.
So you’ve taken the plunge. Someone has convinced you that you’re special and talented. Your company could really use someone with your specific skillset at the branch in South Africa. Now you’ve just arrived in South Africa, and you’re filled with bright-eyed wonder. If you’re reading this, great news: you managed to find an internet connection. That’s your first win. Now what?
Of all the bureaucratic headaches assaulting you when moving to South Africa, perhaps none is as fraught with angst and speculation as that of the driver's license. But don't despair. It's really not as big of a problem as it's made out to be. Learn all you need to know about South African drivers' licenses and how, if necessary, to convert yours to one.
I’m working my way up to one of my Expat Tips, so if you’d like to skip my ramblings, just scroll on down where you’ll find it. But here is the backstory:
After hitting the 1 million pageview mark for Joburg Expat, I had a brief feeling of elation, almost immediately followed by guilt. ...
I recently came across this line in a reader comment:
Good news: You no longer need to fill in a form. It’s all done online! Bad news: they were offline.
We were talking about the new South African travel guidelines which now require parents traveling with children to carry a long-form birth certificate ...
African time is like dog years.
Or maybe it’s the reverse if you really did the math correctly. My point is, everything takes about seven times as long as you’re used to if, like most expats, you’ve grown up on a continent with a more mainstream concept of time. Or maybe I should ...
I recently posted the following on my Facebook page, which I had received from a newly arrived expat:
I have an update for internet.
We went with Afrihost CAPPED, at 100 GB. I’ve got my Netflix up and running and they don’t shape your data!!! We are going to get them to change our line out ...
I recently saw the following question on an expat forum:
“Hello all! I’ve been in South Africa for 3 weeks and expect to work here for approximately 18 months on assignment. My husband will be joining me from the US in 1 month. The most difficult decision regards our dog…do we bring ...