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Move & retire

South Africa

A retirement visa with no minimum age, and a safety score that answers back.

4/4
ingredients confirmed
Every ingredient this page asks for has a figure and a source.
Living
~$1,600/mo
Couple, all in. Compared at country level, so capital cities and large metros run higher. The price level behind it prices the basket residents buy, and a foreign renter cannot reach the cheap end of local housing — poorer countries may still sit too low here.
Safety
Low
Low on the index, driven by violent crime rates that are among the highest recorded anywhere
Residency
Income, no age limit, and it leads to permanence
Healthcare
Excellent if you buy it, unreliable if you do not
Out-of-pocket spending is 6.7% of current health expenditure here (World Bank, 2023, CC BY 4.0). Read it with care: the measure counts only what insured people pay — not premiums, and not the uninsured — which is why the United States comes out at 10.9%, ahead of most countries on this site. The low figure is a good illustration of the caveat: it reflects a population largely covered either by a free public system it queues for or by medical schemes that pay the bills, and says nothing about what a foreign resident faces.

More is being checked.

Where these figures came from

One row per ingredient. Open any of them for the source, how far we trust it, and when we last checked.

Living~$1,600/mo

Pathoff judgement directed by evidence, not computed from it: the country’s position comes from the World Bank household consumption price level for 2024 (0.420 of the United States, CC BY 4.0 — the ICP benchmark carried forward annually by the World Bank’s own method); the US reference budget is ours. See the Pathoff method, section 12.

Couple, all in. Compared at country level, so capital cities and large metros run higher. The price level behind it prices the basket residents buy, and a foreign renter cannot reach the cheap end of local housing — poorer countries may still sit too low here.

Confidence
made by us from the source
SafetyLow

Global Peace Index 2026: rank 123 of 163, score 2.308. Converted by the Pathoff GPI formula (GPI in lib/scoring.ts)

Low on the index, driven by violent crime rates that are among the highest recorded anywhere

Confidence
made by us from the source
ResidencyIncome, no age limit, and it leads to permanence

Pathoff outcome rubric (the Pathoff method, section 10-4), residency band "A route with conditions you can meet": The retired person’s visa is granted on a stated monthly pension or annuity income, or on a lump sum, is renewable in four-year terms and can lead to permanent residence. High in the band, and unusual in carrying no minimum age. Short of the open band because processing is slow and the visa prohibits work.

Confidence
made by us from the source
Rule
No change known to us
Last checked
2026-09
HealthcareExcellent if you buy it, unreliable if you do not

Pathoff healthcare rubric (the Pathoff method, section 13-2), band "You buy your own, and it is affordable": The public system is not a realistic option for a foreign resident and membership of a private medical scheme is a visa condition; the private sector is genuinely excellent and treats patients from across Africa, so serious care is done here. Mid-band because scheme contributions are substantial and rise with age, and the gap between the two systems is the widest on this site.

Out-of-pocket spending is 6.7% of current health expenditure here (World Bank, 2023, CC BY 4.0). Read it with care: the measure counts only what insured people pay — not premiums, and not the uninsured — which is why the United States comes out at 10.9%, ahead of most countries on this site. The low figure is a good illustration of the caveat: it reflects a population largely covered either by a free public system it queues for or by medical schemes that pay the bills, and says nothing about what a foreign resident faces.

Confidence
made by us from the source
Rule
No change known to us
Last checked
2026-09

What it is like here

South Africa publishes a retired person’s visa granted on monthly pension or annuity income with — unusually — no minimum age, renewable and leading towards permanent residence, in an English-speaking country at 42% of United States prices with a private health sector that treats patients from across the continent. Against all of that sits 123rd of 163 for peacefulness, and a public health system most residents cannot rely on.

How the process works

1

Document the pension or annuity income

The retired person’s visa is granted on it, and there is no age requirement.

⏱ 2–4 months
2

Join a registered medical scheme

It is a visa condition, not advice.

⏱ 1 month
3

Expect the file to take months

South African visa processing is slow and the timelines published are optimistic.

⏱ 3–12 months

Where people settle

Cape Town (Atlantic Seaboard)
The most expensive and the most heavily secured
Garden Route (Knysna, Plettenberg)
The established retiree belt, quieter and cheaper
Johannesburg
The best specialist medicine, and the highest crime figures

Open any ingredient above to see where its figure came from, how far we trust it and when we last checked. Nothing here is a substitute for the official source. Last reviewed 2026-09-04.

Photograph of South Africa by Der Berzerker from Washington, DC, USA, licensed CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.