20 new nationalities eligible for South African e-Visa

South Africa's e-visa program is now available to 20 additional nationalitiesaccording to the South African Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

By enabling foreign travelers to apply for a visa for South Africa via the Internet, the e-Visa system simplifies the application process. This shortens visa processing times and eliminates the need to visit a South African consulate.

The electronic visa for South Africa was launched in February 2022. Since the introduction of the system, over 12,377 visa applications have been processed by the government. After resolving some initial technical problems, notably network slowness, the government decided to increase the number of eligible nationalities.

THE 20 new nationalities are now eligible for the South African e-visa:

• Albania
• Algeria
• Belarus
• Bulgaria
• Comoros
• Congo
• Ivory Coast
• Croatia
• Cuba
• Ghana
• Guinea
• Indonesia
• Lithuania
• Liberia
• Mali
• Morocco
• Niger
• Romania
• Senegal
• Slovak

The e-visa was initially launched for 14 countries, including Saudi Arabia, the China, Democratic Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, India, Iran, Mexico, Nigeria, Philippines, Pakistan and Uganda.

Tourism back on track in South Africa

The South African government revealed on Tuesday that 5.8 million visitors from all over the world will visit South Africa in 2022.

South Africa's Minister of Tourism, Patricia De Lillemade the announcement at Africa's Travel INDABA (ATI), currently taking place in Durban. 4.8 % of the 5.8 million visitors came from Africa, showing that the continent's tourism industry is now open and thriving in the post-COVID-19 era.

From January to December 2022, the number of tourists visiting South Africa rose encouragingly to 5.8 million, including over 4 million from other African countries. Compared with the period from January to December 2021, this represents a overall growth of 152.6 % for South Africa. This year could see the return of international tourist arrivals to South Africa. to pre-pandemic levels in Europe and the Middle East.

South Africa has granted visa exemptions to a number of African countries, including countries of the SADC as the Tanzaniathe Namibia, l'Angola, THE Mozambiquethe island Mauritius, THE Malawi and the Botswanafor a specified period, up to a maximum of 90 days.

Ms Lille expressed her willingness to work with many partners to reduce the high cost of air transport in Africa, which discourages travelers and slows the expansion of the tourism industry.

Start-up or teleworking visas in South Africa coming soon?

According to Aaron Motsoaledithe South African government is currently studying the possibility of creating new visa categories, such as the start-up visas and teleworking visas.

These visas, aimed at attracting skilled labor to South Africa, were at the heart of the President's State of the Nation address. Cyril Ramaphosa.

“The Operation Vulindlela team, led by the former Director General of Internal Affairs, Mavuso Msimangrecently submitted a comprehensive report on the review of the visa system to the President."says the document.

The agency said it planned to specify the precise conditions for these visas in three months' time, with a deadline set for the end of June 2023.

 

• South Africa

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