The procedure
These are the steps involved to arrange formal emigration. You may emigrate at any time even if you are already a citizen in your new country. It does not matter how long ago you left South Africa.
| 1.1 | When we receive your enquiry we will send you our initial response letter together with a questionnaire and authority letter, where you authorise us to check on the status of your SARS account and to obtain values for your policies. |
| 1.2 | We advise you on your values and tax payable, as determined by SARS. |
| 2.1 | We use your questionnaire answers to send you the correct documents and required supporting documents which the banks and SARS need. |
| 2.2 | These documents include a form 336 (b) exchange control form, SARS IT21a application for tax clearance (emigration) form and, if necessary, bank account opening forms which you complete and return by post or courier. |
| 2.3 | You authorize me to liaise with your bank so they can advise their requirements to open a bank account for you. The bank is obliged to open an account even if you have not had one for years |
| 3 | When you return the above documents to us we:
We wait for SARS to issue the Tax Clearance Certificate (TCC). This can take 3 to 8 weeks depending on your SARS tax status. |
| 4 | When we receive the TCC from SARS, we lodge the original with the bank. |
| 5 | Your bank then applies to the South African Reserve bank for permission to open a blocked account and to treat you as an emigrant. The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) grants you an Exchange Control Approval Number (ECA). Your bank charges you a fee of about R1,200 to make this application. The SARB application can take up to 6 weeks. The bank now opens a new blocked account for you or converts your existing account to a blocked account. Note: the bank is obliged to take control of ALL your South African assets. |
| 6 | After the blocked account is open and the ECA is received, we send you the surrender forms which we will lodge with the assurers as soon as you return them (by email). |
| 7.1 | Once the maturity documents have been lodged, the assurer applies for a tax directive to SARS before they pay the cash into your account. |
| 7.2 | After you have been paid, we advise you of the amount paid and the amount of tax deducted. We have a standard completion letter which attaches copies of the TCC and ECA letter from the bank. You can now ask the bank to send your cash anywhere you want including Australia, the United Kingdom or the United States (for example). You may close the account or keep it open if you wish. |
| 7.3 | We invoice you. |
This is a long process that can easily take between 3 and 6 months.
If you are married, your spouse should also complete his or her emigration papers as SARS insists on emigration as a family. Our fee quoted is the same for one or both of you.
You may ask to be put in touch with previous clients to find out how they experienced our service.
