Changes to visa rules approved

After a significant drop in tourist numbers since government implemented new visa regulations, the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) welcomed the recommended changes by Cabinet.

The rules made travelling to South Africa a lot more complicated with tourists having to apply for visas in person at South African embassies to capture their biometric data before they depart.

Children travelling in and out of SA also had to produce unabridged birth certificates, which includes the details of the child’s mother and father.

The new changes will make travelling to SA easier for visitors from India, China and Russia.

The DHA will do the following:

In the next three months,

– Implement the capturing of biometrics at ports of entry starting with a pilot project at OR Tambo, King Shaka and Cape Town airports,

– Look at introducing an Accredited Tourism Company Programme for countries like China, India and Russia,

– Consider a long term Multiple Entry Visa for a period exceeding three months and up to three years for frequent travellers for business meetings, business people and academics,

– Principals will issue letters confirming permission for children to travel on school tours,

– Extend the validity of the parental consent affidavit to six months.

Within a year,

– Add visa facilitation centres, including in Zimbabwe, United Arab Emirates and Botswana,

– Consider a visa-waiver for India, China, Russia and other countries,

– Look at issuing visas on arrival for persons travelling to SA having in their passports valid visas for the UK, USA and Canada or any other country that applies stringent checks on visitors to their countries, to ease travel for tourists,

– Consider granting a certain category of frequent travellers such as business and academics from Africa a 10 year Multiple Entry Visitor’s Visa,

– Open two Business Visa Facilitation Centres in Durban and Port Elizabeth, in addition to the centre recently opened in Sandton,

– Print parents’ details in their passports so that they do not have to carry birth certificates.