Sisipho Ntsabo
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Relocation Africa: The Effects of the Global Pandemic

The world has come to a complete standstill due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Many industries, companies and businesses have been affected by this, compelling them to restructure the way business is conducted. The global mobility and relocation industries are some of the industries that have been severely impacted by the global pandemic. This in turn has affected the mobility industry, ultimately affecting the relocation industry. Relocation Africa, mobility, relocation, and immigration business has been largely affected by this pandemic.

In efforts to combat the spread of the virus and ensure the safety of their citizens, states have enforced bolder border entry restrictions, travel bans, and quarantine adherences. This has made managing the expatriate and international assignee workforce complex and challenging. Relocation Africa, situated in a continent that has been administered severe travel restrictions from third world countries while undergoing a slow vaccine rollout. Relocation Africa provides a variety of Mobility, Immigration, Research, Remuneration and Expatriate Tax services across the continent of Africa, assisting individuals and corporate clients settle into new environments as efficiently as possible.

The mobility, immigration and relocation industry has had to change the way they conduct business, to resort to flexible and remote ways in engaging their mobile expatriates and international assignees. At Relocation Africa has had to change their normal procedure/ operations of mobility and relocation to accommodate the travel restrictions and their clients.

Relocation Africa has flexed all its programs. Adding new services such as remote packing up for clients, remotely or virtually selling products for countries who are not in the country, conducts virtual and adjusted services such as opening bank accounts to allow expatriates to do this more remotely. Relocation Africa has also extended its online platforms to include more information that is readily available to its clients. Relocation Africa has also had to ensure that all training and expectation management has considered COVID-19 protocols and to ensure each assignee safe and prioritised. We have also attempted to communicate more extensively to all our clients as we cover a large geography with very different regulations, border closing and re-opening, as well as immigration regulations that are adjusting as the pandemic changes.  We would like you to connect with us on LinkedIn, Instagram, or Twitter to ensure you are getting our updates on service offerings as well as travel updates and border regulations.

 

 

 

 

 

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Andrew Stegmann
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Here’s How Many South Africans Have Moved to Australia Over the Last Year

Australia’s Department of Home Affairs has published its migration data for the 2019/2020 year, detailing how many South African migrants have arrived in the country over the last year.

The department said that emigration was significantly impacted by Covid-19, which disrupted supporting services such as English Language testing, biometrics and health and character checking.

As a result, overall migration program lodgements dropped by 12.3% from 198,710 in 2018/19 to 174,170 in 2019/20.

The largest source citizenship countries of migrants in 2019/20 were:

  • India: 25,698 places
  • China: 18,587 places
  • United Kingdom: 10,681 places
  • Philippines: 8,965 places
  • Vietnam: 5,398 places
  • Nepal: 5,048 places
  • New Zealand: 4,997 places
  • Pakistan: 4,136 places
  • South Africa: 3,743 places
  • United States of America: 3,301 places

How South Africans are getting to Australia

There are four streams in Australia’s migration program:

  • The Skill stream is designed to improve the productive capacity of the economy and fill skill shortages in the labour market, including those in regional Australia.
  • The Family stream is predominantly made up of Partner category visas, enabling Australian citizens and permanent residents to reunite with family members from overseas and provide them with pathways to citizenship.
  • The Special Eligibility stream covers visas for those in special circumstances that do not fit into the other streams. This can include permanent residents returning to the country after a period away.
  • The Child stream is demand-driven and does not have a ceiling.

The department’s data shows that the majority of South African migrants entered on a skilled visa (3,260), with a smaller number entering on family (427) and child visas (56).

This is a slight decrease from prior years with 3,861 migrants reported in 2018/2019 and 4,235 migrants reported 2017/2018.

While this decrease can partly be attributed to Covid-19 and restrictions on movement and travel, it is clear that Australia’s stricter visa requirements and other factors have also had an impact on potential South African migrants.

In 2010/2011, over 8,612 South African migrants were reported as part of the program – over twice as many than what was recorded in 2019/2020. The change has seen South Africa slip from fifth to eight in Australis’s ranking for migrant countries.

Relocation Africa is able to assist with Outbound Services for South Africans looking to move to Australia. For more information about our Australian emigration services, contact immigration@relocationafrica.com, visit our Outbound page here, and view our Outbound brochure here.

 

For information as to how Relocation Africa can help you with your Mobility, Immigration, Research, Remuneration, and Expat Tax needs, email info@relocationafrica.com, or call us on +27 21 763 4240.

Sources: [1], [2]. Image sources: [1], [2].

Andrew Stegmann
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Relocation Africa’s Australian Immigration Interview

Recently, we launched outbound immigration services to various locations, including Australia, which you can learn more about by visiting our website here, or viewing our outbound services brochure here.

Our Immigration Lead, Lynn Mackenzie, recently had the pleasure of speaking to Nicole, our Australian Immigration partner, about Australia’s current immigration landscape.

To listen to Lynn and Nicole’s conversation about immigration in the current context, click here to view the recording, or view it below.

We would like to say a huge thank you to Nicole for her insights. We hope you enjoy the recording.  

For information as to how Relocation Africa can help you with your Mobility, Immigration, Research, Remuneration, and Expat Tax needs, email info@relocationafrica.com, or call us on +27 21 763 4240.

Sources: [1], [2]. Image sources: [1], [2].

Andrew Stegmann

Qantas Is Testing the Viability of a 20-hour Non-Stop Flight

Qantas Airways will run marathon ghost flights from New York and London to Sydney carrying just a few staff to see how the human body holds up before commercial services start.

Qantas said Thursday it will simulate the world’s longest direct flights with Boeing Dreamliners as soon as October. The payload of 40 passengers and crew, most of them employees, will undergo a host of medical checks and assessments.

The Australian airline wants to start direct flights connecting Sydney to New York and London as soon as 2022. Chief executive officer Alan Joyce describes the services as aviation’s final frontier.

The services, which take about 20 hours, aren’t yet a sure thing. Qantas still hasn’t decided on a Boeing or Airbus plane that can fly the route fully laden and without a break. And it’s not clear how passengers will tolerate living in the cabin for the best part of a day and night.

“The things we learn on these flights will be invaluable,” Joyce said on a call Thursday.

Joyce has previously said he plans to choose either Boeing’s 777-8X or Airbus’s ultra-long-range A350-900ULR and -1000ULR for the flights. Competition for the contract gives Qantas more leverage over price.

In an interview with Bloomberg Television on Thursday, Joyce said the delay to Boeing’s 777X program hasn’t excluded the U.S. manufacturer from the deal. He said Boeing had offered Qantas a “transitional” solution to accommodate for any delay. He didn’t elaborate.

“This is still a very competitive race,” he said.

 

For information as to how Relocation Africa can help you with your Mobility, Immigration, Research, Remuneration, and Expat Tax needs, email marketing@relocationafrica.com, or call us on +27 21 763 4240.

Sources: [1], [2]. Image sources: Vismay Bhadra [1], [2].