Imagine this: You've worked your entire life trying to make the best of it, kept going against all odds, built something great and now, you have something to show for it.

When that's the case for you, you know you don't want to put whatever you've built at risk. This includes your business, your career, and even your family.

So when you're living in a country with an unstable political climate, social instability, and many other issues, you're going to want to do something about it. This is no different for South Africa, and in 2018 there was a sudden spike of people leaving the country.

But how are they leaving?

In this case study, we decided to gather what we know and look at actual cases of people taking advantage of this possibility. We’ll look at what drove them, how they did it and finally, the pitfalls and things they had to watch out for.

So, South African business leaders are leaving the country. But what sets them apart from everyone else? Why are they the ones leaving?

Well, it all comes down to opportunity.

Some need to wait for a job opportunity, some don't. And it's the ones that don't that are able to make the move whenever they want to, on their terms.

All they need to know, is "How?'.

And that's what we're going to be looking at in this case study. Specifically, we'll cover a case where the primary motivation was to secure a better life and future for the family as well as to secure their legacy.

The idea behind everything is simple: If you want the same privileges as those born in Europe, your only way in is to become "European". That means getting a secondary citizenship which you can then leverage for a whole slew of perks.

The problem is: How do you get that citizenship?

Luckily countries like money and some cases, that brings with it some opportunities for those who have it.

Now, you don't need to be ultra-wealthy, but you do need to have some capital available to either invest or in some cases outright buy your citizenship. When you do have capital available, the possibilities are endless. (here's a quick test that tells you immediately if you might qualify or not)

There are basically three avenues you can take:

Going back to our case study, Mark did want to have a return on investment and not just put his money into a fund to never see it again.

In addition, Mark did have one very strict requirement:

Benefits of the investment should also apply to his family.

This is important, because not all opportunities have the same perks. Instead, you're going to need to sit down with someone who you can walk through your requirements so they can find the deal that suits you best, ticking as many boxes as possible, within your means.

The most important part is being able to match an opportunity with your requirements. Since choosing the right program or investment can have such an impact, having someone to guide you through it is often a must have.

This is especially important when you want to take advantage of often lucrative, but temporary deals.

These temporary deals are often real estate projects that require an initial investment and are only open until they've hit their maximum investor buy-in.

Taking advantage of something like this does require an expert to always keep an eye open for opportunities so they have a regular flow of projects that allows them to help investors with their specific requirements.

In Mark's case, his requirements pointed him towards choosing a temporary deal. As a bonus, he was able to get a lower minimum invested amount as well. In his case, the deal was limited to up to 2 children, but that was ideal for him.

Now, his wife, his 2 children, and he himself had a secondary passport in a European country, with all the benefits that came along with it.

Outside of the standard benefits, that come with a European citizenship, this allowed his children to go to school in a European school, with very high standards, as well as university. All this would even be covered by social security.

In the end, he ended up with a return on an investment that cost him less than private school would have normally cost him.

The first question is easy to answer, but absolutely crucial.

After all, there’s no reason in looking any further if you’re not eligible. While it’s not for everyone, you would be surprised at how little it takes to take advantage of these programs.

The second question is something different. It requires some insight and although some options are straight forward, the best deals rarely are.

Here’s how you go about finding what works.

Step One – Set your ground rules

Know what you want.You’re going to be surprised at the possibilities and the overwhelming amount of options available.

The best way to tackle that is to know exactly what you want and what you need. Look at the most crucial stuff, but also what’s optional and nice-to-have. Whatever you do, don’t hold back and think things through.

You may have already decided to have your kids go to private school, but now, it may not even make sense anymore to pay for that. It just so happens that many deals also give your kids the privilege to go to a local school, including university for a fraction of the cost but with the same (or better) quality.