Globalisation has allowed people with scarce skills to cross national borders with ease. Given their specific skills base professionals are prone to trans-national migration. The trend is for professionals from developing countries, such as South Africa, to fill gaps in the labour market in developed countries such as the United Kingdom. The literature on migration focuses on the impact of teacher loss on source countries and the consequences for receiving societies. A limited number of studies, however, focus upon the exit of experienced and novice teachers from South Africa. In this paper I highlight trans-national migration determinants for South African teachers by presenting the demographic profiles of exiting teachers, and their motivations for leaving South Africa. The evidence presented was part of a study undertaken from 2001-2005, which examined novice and experienced teachers' reasons for exiting South Africa, their experiences abroad, and their reasons for returning. The need to understand migrant teachers' decision-making is salient: first, as a step in creating avenues for discourse on the production of teachers for export and, second, in attracting ex-patriots back to their home country.