'Pravin effect' has us packing for Perth

Queries about emigrating from South Africa have increased in the past week as a result of "the Pravin effect".

Stuart James, the owner of Intergate emigration agency, said that since Thursday people had been phoning his offices non-stop.

The company helps South Africans relocate to Australia or New Zealand.

James said queries usually came by e-mail, but on Thursday and Friday 70% of queries were phone calls.

He puts it down to former finance minister Pravin Gordhan's firing.

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James said only about 15% of people asking about emigration had the scarce skills required to qualify for entry into Australia and New Zealand.

Of those who qualify, some later decided they could not afford the expense of moving to Australia, he said.

New Zealand requires people to have a job there before they emigrate.

James said many people were "committing money" and flying to New Zealand to look for a job in that country.

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He said that a year ago people would apply for a visa to move their family to Australia as an "insurance policy".

Now they are trying to get visas with the clear intention of leaving this country.

James said families were not delaying their move and were leaving immediately.

Migration agent Reuven Abeshouse, of Migrate to Oz, said his company had seen an increase in interest in migration to Australia.

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Immigration lawyer Chris Watters said: "The numbers [of emigrations] have been high for some months now and ... have not tapered off."

Kramer Villion Norris lawyer Goolam Norris said: "We have had an increase in people wanting to emigrate, mainly to the US. But is there a massive spike? Probably not."