The landscape of global mobility continues to evolve, presenting new obstacles for expatriates and relocation companies alike. As we look towards 2025, Africa’s global mobility landscape is shaped by unique challenges that require careful navigation.
In this latest blog post, our General Manager, Rene Webster, shares her insights on the most common hurdles faced in expatriate relocation across the continent.
She also highlights how Relocation Africa is committed to supporting clients in overcoming these challenges, ensuring a seamless relocation process through expert guidance, bespoke solutions, and innovative strategies.
1. Immigration Issues
The number one challenge in Africa remains immigration, characterised by complex visa processes, frequent policy changes, a lack of documentation of policy and/or adherence to policy, alongside ongoing delays in government approvals. The solution is to partner with local experts who stay updated on regulatory changes and proactively advise on required documentation, process changes, and set realistic expectations in terms of lead times.
2. Governmental Pressure on Local Hiring
Continuing with the immigration trend, the second challenge is the increasing governmental pressure to hire and train local talent. It is therefore crucial that part of your immigration process addresses creating a robust workplace skills plan and ensures this is applied in practice.
3. Short-Term Accommodation
Number three is the increased need for short-term accommodation, particularly for expatriates transitioning to permanent housing and due to the rise in short-term assignments. The challenge here is the limited availability of quality, safe, secure, and vetted accommodation across Africa. To overcome this, you need to work with a partner that physically vets accommodation to ensure it is safe, secure, and located in a safe area with easy access to workplaces, schools, and amenities.
4. Limited High-Quality Housing and Inflated Rental Costs
Number four is the limited availability of high-quality housing in major cities, along with inflated rental costs. It is key that your DSP works with reputable local estate agents to source suitable housing, negotiating long-term leases with favourable terms. They must also set realistic housing expectations with assignees before their relocation.
5. Safety and Security Concerns
Lastly, number five, as with many other parts of the world, safety and security are expected to be major concerns in many parts of Africa in 2025 due to political instability, increasing crime rates, and localised conflicts in certain regions. Providing secure housing, delivering robust safety briefings to assignees, and collaborating with security consultants to create contingency plans is therefore vital.