Sol1 Posted November 21, 2015 Report Share Posted November 21, 2015 (edited) Good day guys,1. I just would like to know- is financial immigration really necessary?Won't that mean my bank account in SA would need to be closed permanently? I am asking this as I might be owed some funds from an endowment policy and also my work but they will only pay this is July next year. So if I close the account, they won't be able to pay it into the account.Also can anyone recommend any companies that help with financial immigration? Has anyone who migrated gone through the process of financial immigrations?2. Also, has anyone had to cancel a Cell phone contract with MTN and Vodacom- what is the procedure. I have 1.5 years left to run on each contract ie MTN AND VODACOM.Thanks so much Guys. Appreciate any advice you can give me.Kind regardsGordon Edited November 21, 2015 by Sol1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AFreshStart Posted November 21, 2015 Report Share Posted November 21, 2015 Hi Gordon,No, financial immigration isn't necessary, we haven't, and still have a bank account there.RE immigration or getting your money out of South Africa, we can't recommend Tanya at FX Capital enough. She has done multiple transfers our for us and has also been a pleasure to work with.RE you phones, you'll need to pay the contracts up. What we found is that they wanted to charge us additional charges for cancelling early so instead we just let the contracts run out and kept paying the monthly plan and then called the month they were going to expire to cancel the contract.We did the same with 2 of our bank accounts, we've now just kept one open as a transactional account.CheersMatt 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sol1 Posted November 22, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 22, 2015 Thanks for your reply Matt. If I don't financial emigrate how does one deal with SARS tax returns? Do I need to file a tax return and if so how does one go about that from Australia? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AFreshStart Posted November 22, 2015 Report Share Posted November 22, 2015 Thanks for your reply Matt. If I don't financial emigrate how does one deal with SARS tax returns? Do I need to file a tax return and if so how does one go about that from Australia?Because we had a cross over we had to pay the tax that was due this year in SA, our accountant handled that on our behalf and going forward we are both registered and paying tax here in Australia and so we will just submit NIL returns going forward.CheersMatt 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dill Posted November 22, 2015 Report Share Posted November 22, 2015 Hi MattQuick question, is it straightforward to update FICA details with an Australian address and documents? I managed to use South African details while living in Dubai as my mum lived in my property and I had enough docs in my name to use local address and contact details.The flat has since been sold and I have nothing in my name anymore. I'm going to SA soon, so was wondering if there were any issues with being non-resident and updating FICA details.No need to answer if you think I'm being too personal! I've looked online and it seems possible, just handy to hear from anyone who might have done this.CheersDill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AFreshStart Posted November 22, 2015 Report Share Posted November 22, 2015 Dill,We were able to FICA one of the accounts from here without a problem, though it was with a private bank, not sure how ABSA/Standard/FNB/Nedbank handle things though.CheersMatt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dill Posted November 22, 2015 Report Share Posted November 22, 2015 Thanks Matt! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pell Posted November 22, 2015 Report Share Posted November 22, 2015 Gordon,Re: cell phone contracts. I cancelled 2 contracts with Cell C from Australia. Before I left SA, I called Cell C and made sure that I had the email address that I needed to use to cancel the contracts and the exact dates when I had to do it. I sent emails on the required dates, with delivery and read receipts, just in case. I got replies within about 2 weeks of sending the emails and made sure they put the exact contract ending dates and the date of the last bill and debit order. I also cancelled the debit order with my bank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qwerty Posted November 23, 2015 Report Share Posted November 23, 2015 I gave my SIM to my Mom and she used it until I had to contact Cell-C to cancel. Also visited them ahead of time to get their contact details and the date on which I had to give notice of cancellation. All went smoothly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavePE Posted November 23, 2015 Report Share Posted November 23, 2015 To cancel a contract with Vodacom, dial 082 1958. They'll ask a bunch of security questions like your ID, Address and what bank the debit order comes off. They'll then send you a quote which you need to sign. You then send the accepted quote, a copy of your ID, and proof of payment to the address listed on the quote. You need to do this within 1 week of the quote being issued. You should definitely not be charged more than your monthly rate multiplied by the remaining months of your contract. Although in my opinion all cellphone companies in SA are sklems so it wouldn't surprise me if they tried to do that... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pell Posted November 23, 2015 Report Share Posted November 23, 2015 Gordon,I should mention that I did not open my international roaming on my phone when I left SA, intentionally so, therefore I only had the the email option. Phoning to cancel contracts from Australia, plus the time spent on hold with the cell phone companies (as I'm sure you well know), would have opened up a black hole in my cell phone bill. Plus it's always good to have everything in writing, with read receipts etc. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmNew Posted November 25, 2015 Report Share Posted November 25, 2015 The only reason to financially emigrate is to get your RAFs paid out if you decide to make them fully paid up and want to access the money pre retirement. Then your existing RSA accounts are closed, and you will have a Blocked account into which the funds are paid. With SARB and SARS clearance, you can then transfer that cash offshore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CGP Posted November 27, 2015 Report Share Posted November 27, 2015 I am using Zeridium in Jhb. A guy by the name of Ryan Lapidus (0)11 502 8862) . he has been great and has driven the process with me being all over the place. As mentioned by others it is not necessary, but it is a way you can get your retirement annuities paid out before the age of 55 if you want to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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