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🏡 Moving back to South Africa: a guide for returning Saffas

Moving home? SA tax residency, foreign pensions and savings, customs rebates on goods and cars, visas for a foreign spouse, medical aid, schools.

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More South Africans move home than most people realise: for family, for ageing parents, for a remote job that pays in pounds or dollars, or simply because it is home. Coming back is easier than leaving, but it has its own paperwork, and a few decisions (especially about tax and foreign pensions) are much better made before you get on the plane. This guide works through the main ones and ends with a month-by-month plan.

1. Becoming a South African tax resident again

There is no form that makes you "resident" again. SARS looks at the facts. Under the ordinarily resident test, you are resident from the point South Africa becomes your real home again, the place you return to after travelling. For most returning Saffas that is the day you land with the intention of staying. The physical presence test (based on days spent in South Africa over several years) can also make you resident, but usually only after a few years back.

What changes on that day:

  • Worldwide income becomes taxable in South Africa. Foreign rent, dividends, interest and any foreign salary you keep earning must go on your South African return. A double tax agreement with the other country usually stops you paying twice, but you still have to declare it.
  • Your foreign assets get a new base cost. When you become resident, the capital gains tax rules in the Eighth Schedule to the Income Tax Act generally treat your foreign assets as acquired at their market value on that day. Gains made while you were non-resident should therefore stay outside SA tax, but only if you can prove the value. Get valuations or statements dated as close to your return date as possible and keep them.
  • Exit from the other country. Your departing country may have its own rules (some charge a departure tax, others want a final return). Check them before you go, not after.

Update your details on SARS eFiling (address, banking, and your residency status if you previously told SARS you had ceased residency). If you ceased residency when you left, see our guide to SARS tax residency for the background.

2. Bringing pensions, savings and investments home

This is where good advice pays for itself. A few principles:

  • Foreign pensions. Section 10(1)(gC)(ii) of the Income Tax Act exempts foreign pensions, annuities and lump sums received by a South African resident for services rendered outside South Africa, as long as they don't come from a South African fund. Where you worked partly in SA and partly abroad, SARS apportions the exemption by years of service (see SARS Binding Private Ruling 355). In 2025 National Treasury proposed deleting this exemption, then withdrew the proposal in November 2025 pending further consultation. At the time of writing (October 2026) check whether it has come back before you make any decision based on it.
  • Don't collapse a foreign pension in a hurry. Taking a lump sum before you leave may be taxed in the foreign country at a high rate, while leaving it where it is and drawing it as a resident may be treated far better. The order of events matters, so speak to an adviser who understands both countries.
  • Moving cash home. There is no limit on bringing money into South Africa, but your bank will ask where it came from and why it is coming in, for balance of payments reporting. Use a forex specialist for large amounts: the exchange-rate margin on R2 million is worth negotiating (see our guide to sending money to and from South Africa).
  • Keeping assets abroad. Once you are resident again, South African exchange control applies to you. Ask your bank (an authorised dealer) how the foreign assets you built up while living abroad must be declared, and whether any of them count against your allowances. Don't assume: the rules for residents, immigrants and inherited assets are different, and they are set out in the Reserve Bank's Currency and Exchanges Manual.

3. Shipping household goods and a car

Household goods. Rebate item 407.06 of Schedule 4 to the Customs and Excise Act lets you import used household furniture, effects and tools of your trade free of customs duty and VAT, provided you are a returning resident who has been out of the country for six months or more and the goods are your own and for your own use. You must not sell them within six months of entry. Alcohol, tobacco and motor vehicles are excluded. SARS asks for an inventory, form DA 304, form P1.160 for unaccompanied goods, and the SAD 500 customs declaration. A reputable international mover will normally handle these for you.

A car. This is harder, and often not worth it:

  • Used vehicle imports are restricted. You need an import permit from ITAC (the International Trade Administration Commission), and you must apply before the car is shipped. ITAC generally limits these permits to returning citizens and permanent residents and new immigrants, wants the car registered in your name abroad, and asks for proof of your employment abroad. You also need a letter of authority from the NRCS.
  • Rebate item 407.04 gives a customs duty rebate on one vehicle per family when someone permanently changes residence to South Africa, if you have owned and used it for at least 12 months (a pro-rata rebate applies for less). You may not sell, lend or otherwise dispose of it for 20 months after entry. Check with SARS whether VAT and other charges are still payable in your case.

4. A foreign spouse or children

  • Children born abroad to a South African parent are South African citizens by descent, but their births must be registered with Home Affairs, through a mission abroad or at Home Affairs after you return. Do this before you move if you can: it is needed for their SA passport, and South African citizens must enter and leave the country on a South African passport. See passports and IDs abroad.
  • A foreign spouse or life partner usually starts on a temporary visa, for example a relative's visa or a visitor's visa for spouses. Check the conditions carefully: a relative's visa does not allow the holder to work. After five years of marriage or a permanent spousal relationship with a South African citizen or permanent resident, the spouse can apply for permanent residence under section 26(b) of the Immigration Act.
  • Foreign stepchildren or adopted children who are not SA citizens need their own visa, and a study visa if they will be at school. Apply well ahead: Home Affairs and VFS processing times can be long, and applications usually need police clearances, medical and radiology reports, and unabridged birth and marriage certificates, often apostilled.

5. Work, medical aid, schools and settling in

Professional bodies. If you let your registration lapse while abroad, contact your body early: the HPCSA, SANC, SACE, ECSA, SAICA, the Legal Practice Council and others each have their own restoration or reinstatement process, and some ask for proof of good standing from your foreign regulator, CPD records or arrears fees.

Medical aid late-joiner penalties. This catches many returning Saffas. Under the Medical Schemes Act regulations, a medical scheme may add a late-joiner penalty if you are 35 or older and have years without cover by a South African registered medical scheme. Overseas health cover, including the NHS or private cover abroad, does not count. The penalty is a percentage of the risk portion of your contribution, rising in bands with the number of years without cover (from 5% for the first band up to 75% for 25 years or more), and it applies for as long as you stay on medical aid. Schemes may also apply waiting periods. Ask several schemes for a written quote before you return, and bring proof of any previous SA scheme membership: those years count in your favour. The Council for Medical Schemes explains the rules.

Schools. Public school applications for the following year usually open months in advance, often online, through the provincial education department. Popular schools fill early and give preference to families living in the feeder area, so get a lease or proof of address in place as soon as you can. Independent schools have their own timelines and waiting lists. Bring recent report cards, a transfer letter and, for high school, details of the curriculum followed: ask the school how a child from a foreign curriculum will be placed in Grades 10 to 12. The school year runs January to December.

Reverse culture shock. It is real, and it often arrives a few months in, once the holiday feeling wears off. Load-shedding or water outages, security habits, slower admin, friends who have moved on, and children who miss their old lives can all hit at once. Some things that help:

  • Expect the first year to be an adjustment, and decide in advance not to make a "this was a mistake" call before about 12 months.
  • Give children a say in what they keep (a sport, a club, an online friendship) and time to grieve what they left.
  • Keep a link to your old country. Many returners keep working remotely for a foreign employer, at least at first.

6. Step-by-step: the six months before and after

  1. Six months before: get cross-border tax advice on pensions, investments and timing. Decide your return date with tax in mind. Start any visa applications for a foreign spouse or children, and register births of children born abroad.
  2. Five months before: research schools and apply. Request certificates of good standing from foreign professional regulators and contact your SA body about reinstatement.
  3. Four months before: get quotes from at least three international movers. Decide about the car; if you're shipping it, apply to ITAC now.
  4. Three months before: get medical aid quotes, including any late-joiner penalty. Arrange temporary accommodation and start looking at rentals or purchases.
  5. Two months before: get valuations or statements for foreign assets around your planned date. Collect report cards, transfer letters, medical and vaccination records, and pet import permits if relevant.
  6. One month before: notify foreign tax authorities, banks and pension providers of your move. Keep at least one foreign bank account open. Port or keep your foreign mobile number for OTPs.
  7. First month back: clear your goods through customs, update SARS eFiling, join a medical scheme (delays add to penalties), get a South African driving licence sorted if yours has expired, and open or reactivate local bank accounts.
  8. Months two to six: settle schools, register with your professional body, set up provisional tax if you earn foreign or freelance income, and keep a file of every document showing the date you became resident.

Common mistakes

  • Cashing in a foreign pension before leaving, without advice, and losing a large slice to tax that could have been avoided.
  • Not recording the value of foreign assets on the day you became resident, so you later struggle to prove your new base cost.
  • Shipping a car before the ITAC permit is approved. It can end up stuck in port, running up storage charges.
  • Selling rebated household goods or a rebated car within the restricted period, which makes the duty payable.
  • Delaying medical aid, which can push you into a higher late-joiner band.
  • Assuming a foreign spouse can work on a relative's visa.

Official sources

This guide is general information, not tax, legal, immigration or financial advice. Rules on foreign pensions, customs rebates and visas change, so confirm the current position with SARS, Home Affairs, ITAC or a registered adviser before you act.