Immigrating to Australia as a South African

Australia is one of the most popular destinations for South Africans emigrating permanently — and one of the most competitive. Most South Africans migrate through Australia's skilled migration programme, which is run by the Australian Department of Home Affairs and is points-based: your age, English ability, qualifications and work experience are scored, and you generally need a competitive score (the legal minimum is 65 points, but many occupations effectively need more) before you are even invited to apply for a visa.

This guide explains the main visa pathways, the step-by-step process, the fees you should expect (including the hidden costs most people forget), and which jobs are currently in demand in Australia.

The main visa pathways for South Africans

  • Skilled Independent visa (subclass 189) — permanent residence without needing an employer or a state to sponsor you. Your occupation must be on the relevant skilled occupation list, and you compete on points. This is the most flexible visa but the hardest to get invited for.
  • Skilled Nominated visa (subclass 190) — permanent residence, but an Australian state or territory nominates you. Nomination adds 5 points, and each state publishes its own occupation lists and criteria.
  • Skilled Work Regional (Provisional) visa (subclass 491) — a five-year provisional visa requiring you to live and work in a designated regional area (which covers most of Australia outside Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane). State nomination or eligible family sponsorship adds 15 points, and it offers a pathway to permanent residence through the subclass 191 visa.
  • Employer-sponsored visas — the Skills in Demand visa (subclass 482) lets an approved Australian employer sponsor you when they cannot find a local worker; the Employer Nomination Scheme (subclass 186) can lead directly to permanent residence. These require a genuine job offer from an approved sponsor.
  • Partner and family visas — if you are married to, or in a de facto relationship with, an Australian citizen or permanent resident, or you have eligible close family there.
  • Student visas — some South Africans study in Australia first and then use post-study work rights to build toward a skilled visa, though this is expensive and not a guaranteed route.

Most skilled visas are applied for through SkillSelect: you submit an Expression of Interest (EOI), and only if you are invited may you lodge the actual visa application.

Step-by-step: how the skilled migration process works

  1. Check that your occupation is eligible. Your job must appear on the relevant skilled occupation list for the visa you want. Occupations are tied to assessing authorities.
  2. Estimate your points. Points are awarded for age (maximum at 25–32), English ability, skilled work experience, qualifications, and extras such as state nomination, regional study or a partner with skills. You need at least 65 points to lodge an EOI, but competitive occupations often require substantially more.
  3. Write an approved English test. Most applicants need IELTS, PTE Academic or another accepted test. "Competent" English is the baseline; "Proficient" or "Superior" scores earn 10 or 20 extra points and are often the difference between waiting forever and being invited.
  4. Get a skills assessment. The assessing authority for your occupation — for example Engineers Australia, ANMAC (nurses), AITSL (teachers), ACS (IT), VETASSESS or Trades Recognition Australia — verifies that your South African qualifications and experience match Australian standards. This step has its own fees and can take weeks to months.
  5. Submit your EOI on SkillSelect (and separate state-nomination applications where relevant, as each state runs its own process).
  6. Wait for an invitation. Invitation rounds are competitive and priorities shift. An EOI is not a visa application and gives you no right to stay anywhere.
  7. Lodge the visa application within the deadline after invitation (normally 60 days), pay the visa application charge, and upload all documents.
  8. Complete medicals and police clearances. You will need medical examinations by a panel physician and police clearance certificates from every country you have lived in — for South Africans that means the SAPS Police Clearance Certificate (see our Police Clearance Certificate guide) and certificates from any other countries of long-term residence.
  9. Wait for the decision, then make the move — flights, shipping, temporary accommodation, schools, tax and banking (see below).

Processing times vary widely by visa type and occupation — from a few months to well over a year — so check the Department of Home Affairs' current global processing times rather than relying on agent promises.

Fees and hidden costs: what to budget

All figures below are approximate and change regularly — always confirm the current amounts on homeaffairs.gov.au and with your assessing authority before budgeting. At a broad level, a single skilled applicant should expect a total journey cost in the region of R150,000–R300,000+, and a family substantially more.

Official visa and assessment costs:

  • Visa application charge: the main skilled visas (189/190/491) cost roughly AUD 4,700–4,900 for the main applicant, with additional charges of about half that for an adult partner and lower amounts per child. Employer-sponsored and partner visas have their own (often higher) charges — the partner visa is one of Australia's most expensive.
  • Skills assessment: typically AUD 500–1,500+ depending on the assessing authority and occupation.
  • English test (IELTS/PTE): roughly R4,500–R6,000 per sitting — and many applicants write it more than once chasing a higher score.
  • Medical examinations and chest X-rays at a panel physician: a few thousand rand per person.
  • SAPS Police Clearance Certificates (and any foreign PCCs), plus courier fees.

The hidden costs people forget:

  • Migration agent fees if you use a registered MARA agent — commonly the equivalent of R40,000–R120,000+ for a full skilled application. Agents are optional, but only MARA-registered agents may legally give Australian immigration assistance for a fee.
  • Certified copies, translations, apostilles and couriering documents — apostilles go through DIRCO in Pretoria and take time.
  • Escalating points chase: re-writing English tests, a partner writing tests, extra assessments, or re-studying to gain points.
  • Reapplication costs if an EOI expires or documents lapse — police clearances and medicals have validity windows, so poorly timed applications can mean paying twice.
  • Flights, shipping and pets — container shipping for a household can run R100,000+, and flying pets to Australia is notoriously expensive (often tens of thousands of rand per animal, plus quarantine).
  • Arrival costs: rental bonds and advance rent (often 4–6 weeks upfront), buying a car, school costs for some visa types, health insurance gaps before Medicare eligibility, and driving-licence conversion.
  • South African exit costs: SARS tax emigration / cessation of tax residency administration, potential capital gains tax "exit charge" on worldwide assets when you cease residency, pension and retirement-annuity rules, and financial advice.

Jobs in high demand in Australia

Australia publishes its needs through skilled occupation lists and the annual Occupation Shortage List analysis by Jobs and Skills Australia. Sectors that have consistently shown strong demand in recent years include:

  • Health care: registered nurses, GPs and specialists, aged- and disability-care workers, pharmacists, physiotherapists, occupational therapists and other allied health professionals.
  • Construction and trades: electricians, plumbers, carpenters, metal fabricators, motor mechanics and other licensed trades — trades require a Trades Recognition Australia assessment and often licensing in the destination state.
  • Engineering: civil, mechanical, electrical and mining engineers (assessed by Engineers Australia).
  • Education: early childhood, primary and secondary teachers, especially in regional areas (assessed by AITSL).
  • IT and digital: software engineers, developers, cybersecurity specialists and data professionals (assessed by the ACS) — popular but highly competitive on points.
  • Regional and other shortage areas: chefs, social workers and various agriculture and hospitality roles, often via state-nominated or regional visas.

Being on a shortage list does not guarantee a visa: you still need the assessment, English score, points and an invitation or a sponsoring employer.

After the visa: the South African admin people miss

  • Tax residency: emigrating does not automatically end your SARS obligations. Ceasing South African tax residency is a formal process and can trigger a deemed capital-gains disposal of worldwide assets. Get advice from a cross-border tax practitioner before you leave.
  • Retirement funds: access to retirement annuities and preservation funds is tied to ceasing tax residency and SARS approval processes — timelines and rules apply.
  • Documents to take: unabridged birth and marriage certificates (see our unabridged birth certificate guide), qualification certificates and transcripts, driver history letters, and apostilled copies where requested.
  • Citizenship: South Africa permits dual citizenship only if you apply to retain your South African citizenship before taking Australian citizenship — skip this step and you can lose your SA citizenship automatically.

Sources

  • Australian Department of Home Affairs — skilled visas and SkillSelect (immi.homeaffairs.gov.au)
  • Jobs and Skills Australia — Occupation Shortage List analysis (jobsandskills.gov.au)
  • MARA — Office of the Migration Agents Registration Authority (mara.gov.au)
  • SARS — ceasing South African tax residency (sars.gov.za)
  • SAPS — Police Clearance Certificates; DIRCO — apostilles (gov.za)

This guide is general information, not migration or legal advice. Australian visa rules, occupation lists, points thresholds and charges change frequently — verify everything on official Australian government sites or with a MARA-registered agent before paying any fees.