{"id":845630,"date":"2025-12-05T11:27:15","date_gmt":"2025-12-05T09:27:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=845630"},"modified":"2025-12-05T11:27:21","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T09:27:21","slug":"reverse-emigration-trend-hitting-south-africans-living-in-england-canada-and-australia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business-opinion\/845630\/reverse-emigration-trend-hitting-south-africans-living-in-england-canada-and-australia\/","title":{"rendered":"Reverse emigration trend hitting South Africans living in England, Canada and Australia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

South Africans are coming home in large numbers, with many returning from Australia, Europe, and Canada. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is according to recruitment group, DNA Employer of Record (EOR), which has seen a 70% increase in South Africans actively wanting to return over the past year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It said that South Africans are packing up their flats in London, Amsterdam, Toronto, and Sydney, shipping their dogs, and booking one-way tickets back to South Africa.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reasons for moving vary, with motivations including missing South Africa’s weather and wishing to raise children closer to family.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For many, the lifestyle abroad no longer feels as attractive as it once did, with some also being optimistic about South Africa\u2019s recent improvements, the group noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“With South Africa itself changing in ways that feel reassuring for many, returning feels less like a compromise and more like a confident choice,” it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa has experienced a string of good news and positive sentiment over the past few months, driving optimising both socially and economically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The country received its first credit rating upgrade in twenty years after S&P upgraded it from BB- to BB, with a positive outlook. The nation\u2019s local currency debt rating also improved.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rand has been stronger, reforms are taking shape, and the medium-term budget sparked a wave of positive responses about the country’s finances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is crucial, as DNA EOR stated that large investment houses only move when fundamentals improve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The government has also achieved two consecutive primary budget surpluses for the first time in fifteen years, and inflation has been lowered to a 3% target, which could lead to lower interest rates in the future. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The debt-to-GDP ratio is also stabilising, while the rand has strengthened by around 10% this year, driven by a weaker dollar. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The JSE<\/a> has also been one of the best-performing stock markets in the world, experiencing 50% growth since the start of the year, driven by heightened commodity prices. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn a global economy full of uncertainty, South Africa is becoming a surprisingly stable bet,\u201d said DNA EOR. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another key factor is that Eskom has drastically reduced load shedding across the country, with private generation also gathering pace. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Government of National Unity (GNU) has also boosted investor confidence, while other governance improvements, such as being removed from the grey list, have shown significant improvements.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the social side, DNA EOR noted that the success of the Springboks has highlighted the world-class parts of South Africa, including leadership, skill, belief, and discipline. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen South Africans talk about coming home, they\u2019re not just talking about geography. They\u2019re talking about momentum.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not an issue for employers\u00a0<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Another driving force behind the moves is the fact that mobile South Africans are operating in a different world of work where their jobs aren’t necessarily impacted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moving back home doesn’t mean quitting their lucrative jobs in the UK, EU or other countries, as these companies already employ remote work opportunities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They can move home and still keep those jobs, which is another draw.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DNA EOR said it’s not only returning South Africans who are taking advantage of this, with global companies also tapping into the nation\u2019s existing skills and remote work opportunities.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group noted that South Africa is one of the strongest remote-first talent markets in the world, not only due to its cost advantage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This includes time zone alignment, with South African workers being well-suited for the UK, EU, and Middle East markets. US teams also receive great crossover hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Neutral English accents are also the gold standard for customer support, tech support and sales roles. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa also boasts higher education standards, with its universities consistently ranking among the top performers globally, particularly in fields such as engineering, finance, and technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The nation also has a BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) heritage and is a global leader in customer experience outsourcing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Work ethic and culture are also globally recognised, with South African talent known for its energy, loyalty, and problem-solving abilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The nation also has cost competitiveness, with currency differences and lower cost of living making South African-based remote talent incredibly attractive without compromising quality.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DNA EOR has seen a significant increase in the number of South Africans looking to return home. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":845632,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[24331,175],"class_list":["post-845630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-opinion","tag-dna-eor","tag-jse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/845630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=845630"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/845630\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":845640,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/845630\/revisions\/845640"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/845632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=845630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=845630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=845630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}