Next week I am starting the process of getting my grandkids processed so they can clam British citizenship due to myself having being born in England. This automatically qualifies them the right to claim a British passport and it does make a huge difference. If they have children they do not qualify so this is the end of the line unless they were living in the UK.
The freedom it offers is the difference as I know so many South Africans who are stuck here even though we see the open borders in Europe and the USA for those coming in by other means. Try that by the normal route of flying in and you will be back on the next plane which makes the open borders a joke.
Currently they have a South African passport which offers them no benefits at all whilst travelling and basically every single country requires a visa besides the countries you wouldn't want to visit anyway. The British passport is still regarded as one of the best for what it offers and why I believe they need to be processed as soon as possible.
No one knows what the future holds and whether these laws around citizenship could change in the future. The way the UK is heading allowing so many illegal immigrants in those who would normally qualify via descendants may end up being blocked.
On out recent trip customs and immigration was not a hassle like it has been in the past as the entire family was allowed to come with myself into the British queue and we were in and out within 10 minutes with no delays. There was actually more hassle coming back into South Africa which took nearly 3 hours of queueing and highlighted how inadequate the staff and system are locally. On the one side you have one of the busiest airports in the world and take literally 10 minutes and then you have what would be considered a minor hub taking hours. Those who did not hold SA passports were in for an even longer wait as when we were processed that queue was still very very long.
I have already discussed with my children that the hope is we will move at some point as there is no future for them or the grand children here. I cannot see the economy improving anytime soon and over the next few months I will be travelling again to the UK to visit my mother who is not well and visiting another country I have been investigating as a future home base. This is a 3-5 year plan and the sooner I find a country that ticks all the boxes and purchase a property outside of SA the better.
The longer we are here the further we are falling behind economically and why the current business is the key as part of it can be done form anywhere in the world and that is where my head is right now. In the meantime they all need to become specialists with the online part of the business and I will handle the rest of the business that will fuel the online side.
The internet has opened up so may opportunities that you can live almost anywhere you desire and you can take the business with you.
