Helping South African expats and Australian families navigate financial complexity. I provide practical advice to help you build the life you really want.
I get asked this question fairly often, usually by South African advisers who are considering whether they can make the move to Australia.
The short answer is yes, it’s possible.
The more useful answer is that it’s harder, slower, and more demanding than most people expect.
This isn’t a guide to the current rules or a checklist of steps to follow. Those change. What doesn’t change is the process you go through, the gaps you discover, and the resilience it quietly requires.
This is my experience of becoming a practising financial adviser in Australia, including the mistakes I made and what I learned along the way.
Where I overestimated how transferable experience would be
When I first started looking into Australia in late 2018, I assumed my experience would carry most of the weight. At that point, I had over a decade in financial services and held my CFP designation in South Africa.
I expected that background to shorten the path.
It didn’t.
After speaking with FASEA at the time, it quickly became clear that I still needed an Australian qualification before I could be considered. Experience alone wasn’t enough. That was my first assumption to let go of.
Closing the qualification gap
I enrolled with Central Queensland University to complete the Graduate Diploma of Financial Planning.
Through Recognition of Prior Learning, I received credit for half the subjects, which meant completing four Australian-specific modules. These focused largely on tax and superannuation.
I passed the subjects and finished in late 2019. Academically, it went well.
Looking back, my mistake here was treating the qualification primarily as a requirement to satisfy, rather than as the beginning of learning how advice actually works in Australia. I was qualified on paper, but still far from useful in practice.
Why being qualified wasn’t the same as being employable
That gap became obvious in 2020.
With borders closed and visas stalled, I began reaching out to Australian advice firms to see whether I could work remotely. The feedback was consistent and fair.
I understood advice conceptually, but I didn’t understand the Australian system. Platforms, providers, insurance structures, super funds, and the day-to-day flow of advice work were unfamiliar.
I was assessed as a Foreign Existing Adviser, which meant I was exempt from completing a Professional Year. At the time, I thought this was a major advantage.
It wasn’t.
The exemption dealt with regulation, not readiness. I still wasn’t particularly helpful to an Australian advice business.
Stopping and asking to learn
By mid-2021, I had been waiting more than a year. There was no visa progress, no local experience, and plenty of polite rejections.
Eventually, I stopped trying to position myself as ready and instead asked to learn.
I posted in an online adviser community and explained exactly where I was at. I didn’t ask for a senior role or sponsorship. I asked for an opportunity to understand how Australian advice actually operates.
Nathan Fradley replied and offered me a temporary role as an Adviser Associate in his Melbourne-based practice.
The catch was simple. I was still living in South Africa.
Learning Australian advice from the ground up
For the next 18 months, my alarm went off at 12:15am each day. I started work by 1:00am South African time to align with Australian business hours and tried to be asleep by early evening to make it sustainable.
On my first day, I was asked to call Netwealth. I had to look up who they were.
That moment captured the reality of the transition. I had experience, but not the right experience.
I learned Australian advice by doing the work that sits underneath the advice. Administration, client queries, document preparation, and sitting in meetings to understand how decisions were made. Titles mattered far less than being useful and reliable.
Continuing to build experience under imperfect conditions
At the same time, I was still offshore.
South Africa has rolling electricity blackouts, known as load shedding. I chose not to invest heavily in solar or battery systems because I expected to relocate soon. That expectation stretched into months, and then longer.
Most nights I worked by battery lamp in a converted garage that doubled as my office. Winters in the Free State are cold, and while I had a gas heater, it couldn’t run for long in an enclosed space.
This part of the story isn’t about hardship for its own sake. It matters because it forced a choice.
I could focus on financial advice in South Africa and wait for a visa someday, or I could keep building experience under imperfect circumstances. I chose the second option.
Sponsorship and another reset
Later in 2021, Nathan’s business joined Tribeca Financial. I stayed on to help with the transition, working remotely as an Associate Adviser while also covering Client Experience tasks.
Originally, my migration plan was to move to the Gold Coast under state sponsorship. That changed when Tribeca registered as a sponsor and supported me on a 482 visa to work in Melbourne.
Something worth noting here is that sponsorship is a genuine risk for an advice firm. It’s not just about qualifications, it’s about whether you can contribute and adapt. If you can show drive and commitment, most firms understand that competence comes with time.
My visa was approved in late 2022. Three weeks before leaving, my marriage ended. I packed up my life in Bloemfontein alone and prepared to start again.
Why arrival wasn’t the finish line
I arrived in Melbourne in early January 2023.
The first few days were confronting. I was tired, unfamiliar with the city, and questioning whether I’d underestimated the transition.
What I got wrong at that point was assuming that arrival meant stability.
It didn’t. The next phase was about proving I could operate onshore.
I had no car and very little furniture. I passed the Australian Adviser Exam in February 2023 and continued in a hybrid role, splitting my time between advice work and client experience. It wasn’t glamorous, but it was where real learning happened.
Becoming an adviser in practice
Gradually I took on more responsibility. By early 2024, I was managing my own book of clients and working fully as an adviser.
I later converted my CFP designation to Australia and completed the Ethics Bridging Exam. That process mattered to me, but it reinforced an important lesson.
Designations don’t make you effective. Competence comes from repetition, judgement, and understanding how clients behave in real situations.
Even without a Professional Year requirement, the practical learning curve was unavoidable.
Permanent residency has been its own slow and expensive process. Even now, it involves waiting and uncertainty.
But I’m here.
What I misunderstood
Looking back, there are a few things I would explain differently to anyone considering this path.
- I overestimated how easily experience would transfer.
- I underestimated how long it takes to become genuinely useful in a new system.
- I thought qualifications would open doors faster than they did.
What mattered more was a willingness to start lower than my ego preferred, to do unglamorous work, and to stay engaged during long periods of uncertainty.
The takeaway
Yes, it’s possible to move countries and rebuild a career in financial advice.
It isn’t quick, and it isn’t simple.
What it requires most is patience, humility, and the ability to keep moving forward without clear milestones for long stretches of time.
For me, it was difficult and often uncomfortable.
It was also worth it.
So, if you’re on a similar path and it feels heavy right now, keep going. Slow progress is still progress.
If you have questions or need some guidance, feel free to reach out. I’m always willing to help and share where I can.