Moving to South Africa from Australia

Australian passport holders can visit South Africa visa-free for up to 90 days, but living there takes a residence permit. The self-funded residency routes we track start at an income of about $2,271 a month or an investment of about $307k, and our residency index rates South Africa 60/100 for Australian citizens (possible, with conditions). We estimate €2,350 a month for a couple living centrally in Bloemfontein and €2,599 in Johannesburg. South Africa is in our high tax tier. Check the official requirements before you apply.

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Short stays
Visa-free 90 days
Australian passport
Residency
60/100
Possible, with conditions, our index
Tax tier
High
High personal income tax
Est. cost for two
From €2,350/mo
Bloemfontein, our estimate

Living there long term

Our residency index: 60/100, possible, with conditions. It is our own rating of how realistic long-term residency in South Africa is for Australian citizens, based on the routes South Africa publishes. Long-term residency is realistic via the Retired Person's Visa (guaranteed pension/annuity income), the Critical Skills Visa (no capital, for in-demand occupations), the Financially Independent Permit (net-worth-based PR), or the Business Visa (capital invested in a local business), though Home Affairs processing is slow and a pending White Paper may tighten thresholds.

The cheapest self-funded routes we track:

  • Income: about $2,271 a month (South Africa Retired Person's Visa, ZAR 37,000/mo guaranteed pension/annuity income, single applicant (USD/ZAR 16.29, Wise mid-market 2026-06-03); as of June 2026)
  • Investment: about $307k (South Africa Business Visa, ZAR 5,000,000 one-time capital invested in a business; cheaper than the ZAR 12m Financially Independent Permit net-worth route (USD/ZAR 16.29, Wise mid-market 2026-06-03); as of June 2026)

Check the official requirements before you apply: amounts, conditions and exchange rates change, and what a couple needs can differ from a single applicant's threshold.

For short visits, Australian passport holders can visit visa-free for up to 90 days, according to the passport-index dataset. Short-stay entry covers visits; living there takes a residence permit.

Source: OurNextCity residency dataset, hand-reviewed approximations researched against published immigration rules, figures as of June 2026. Not legal advice: check the official source before you apply. Short-stay entry from the passport-index dataset (ilyankou, MIT).

Where in South Africa to start

Ranked by our match model for a typical couple who both hold Australian passports, using the preset answers of our best places to live list. Your own answers would change the order. We pick the cities, up to five, by how often English Wikipedia readers looked them up over the past year.

  1. 1. Johannesburg

    78% match
    Est. cost
    €2,599/mo
    Avg temp
    16°C
    Safety index
    30/100

  2. 2. Cape Town

    77% match
    Est. cost
    €2,529/mo
    Avg temp
    17°C
    Safety index
    30/100

  3. 3. Bloemfontein

    76% match
    Est. cost
    €2,350/mo
    Avg temp
    17°C
    Safety index
    30/100

  4. 4. Pretoria

    74% match
    Est. cost
    €2,461/mo
    Avg temp
    18°C
    Safety index
    30/100

  5. 5. Durban

    69% match
    Est. cost
    €2,499/mo
    Avg temp
    21°C
    Safety index
    30/100

Cost of living for two

Our estimate for a couple living centrally runs from €2,350 a month in Bloemfontein to €2,599 in Johannesburg. For comparison, we estimate €4,094 a month in Melbourne. Use these figures to compare places rather than to set a budget.

Source: our cost model: a country-level cost-of-living index scaled for city size, from our city dataset (last rebuilt June 2026). An estimate, not a survey of current prices.

Taxes

South Africa is in our high tax tier (high personal income tax); Australia is in our high tax tier (high personal income tax). Tiers describe each country's own income tax. They do not cover tax you may still owe in Australia after you leave, or the treaty between the two countries, so check both with a tax adviser before you move.

Source: OurNextCity tax tiers, assigned by hand from each country's top marginal personal income tax rate and overall tax reputation, with no fixed rate cut-offs. Coarse by design; not tax advice.

Compare cities in South Africa

Lists with cities in South Africa

Moving to South Africa from elsewhere

Every country and origin we cover

How we built this page

Every figure here comes from the datasets behind our city and country pages:

  • Short-stay entry: the passport-index dataset (ilyankou, MIT license), which records the entry rule for short visits on each passport.
  • Residency index, routes and thresholds: the OurNextCity residency dataset, hand-reviewed against published immigration rules, figures as of June 2026. It is a summary, not legal advice.
  • City ranking: our match model, the one behind the quiz, run with a typical couple's preset answers and both partners holding Australian passports. It ranks up to five of the country's best-known cities: of the cities in our quiz (100,000 people or more, capitals and a few towns movers seek out, such as Faro), the five most read about on English Wikipedia over the past year. It folds suburbs into their main city and leaves out countries with a residency index under 40 and areas under a US State Department Level 4 advisory, as our best-cities lists do.
  • Costs: our cost model, a country-level cost-of-living index scaled for city size, from our city dataset (last rebuilt June 2026).
  • Tax tiers: three coarse bands we assign by hand from each country's top marginal personal income tax rate and overall tax reputation.