• Requirements for entering South Africa
• Who needs to apply for a visa?
• Where can you apply for a visa?
• Arriving in South Africa
• How to apply for a visa
• Contact details

Before you will be allowed to enter South Africa, you need to have:

• a valid and acceptable passport / travel document which covers the period that you intend to stay in the country
• a valid visa, if required
• sufficient funds
• a return / onward ticket
• a yellow fever certificate if you are travelling through the yellow fever belt of Africa or South America.

People who do not have South African passports need to apply for visas. This includes people who want to come to South Africa for a holiday or for business.

However visitors who have passports from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (including the British Islands Bailiwick of Guernsey and Jersey, Isle of Mann and Virgin Islands, the Republic of Ireland as well as British Overseas Territories) are totally exempt from South African visa control and do not need visas for any purpose.

Also, visitors from certain other countries are exempt from the visa requirements under certain conditions.

You must organise a visa before you come to South Africa. You cannot apply for a visa at South African ports of entry.

If there is a South African diplomatic or consular representative in your country, then you must submit your visa application to them.

If there is no South African diplomat or consulate in your country, you can send your application to:

Director-General: Foreign Affairs
Private Bag X152
Pretoria, 0001
South Africa

Remember you cannot apply for a visa when you arrive in South Africa.

Once you get to the South African port of entry, e.g. Johannesburg International Airport, you will be given a temporary residence permit, which replaces your visa and states how long you may stay in the country.

To apply for a visa, you need to:

• submit the application form
• show your passport (or provide certified copies if the application is posted)
• provide two passport photographs
• pay the R425.00 or US$47 or £43 visa fee, if applicable (refer to the list of countries subject to visa fees)
• show that you have booked an air ticket.

If a business visa is applied for, you also need to provide a letter of invitation from the South African company to be visited, as well as a letter from your company.