Visa requirements

By user:Mattes[see page for license], via Wikimedia Commons

Depending on your nationality, and the purpose and duration of your visit, you may not need a visa to visit South Africa.

If you are subject to visa requirements, you must apply and receive your visa BEFORE your departure for South Africa. Visas are NOT issued at South African ports of entry, and airline officials are obliged to insist on visas before allowing passengers to board. If you arrive without a visa, immigration officials are obliged by law to refuse you entry to South Africa and to place you on a return flight to your country.

If you intend to stay in South Africa for less than 90 days

If you hold a national passport (diplomatic, official or ordinary) or a travel document for any one of the following listed countries/territories/international organisations, you do not need to apply for a visa if you intend to stay in the country for 90 days or less:

If you intend to stay for 30 days or less

If you hold a national passport (diplomatic, official or ordinary) or a travel document for the any one of the following listed countries/territories/international organisations, you will not need to apply for a visa if you intend to stay for a period of 30 days or less, or are in transit:

• Antigua and Barbuda  
• Barbados
• Belize
• Benin
• Bolivia
• Cape Verde
• Costa Rica
• Cyprus
• Gabon
• Guyana
• Hong Kong (only with regard to holders of Hong Kong British National passports and Hong Kong Special Administrative Region passports)
• Hungary
• Jordan
• Lesotho
• Macau (only with regard to holders of Macau Special Administrative Region passports)
• Malaysia
• Malawi
• Maldives
• Mauritius
• Mozambique
• Namibia
• Peru
• Poland
• Seychelles
• Slovak Republic
• South Korea (Republic)
• Swaziland
• Thailand
• Turkey
• Zambia

Exemption for diplomatic officials and service passport

If you hold a national passport (diplomatic, official and service) or a travel document for the any one of the following listed countries/territories/international organisations, you will not need to apply for a visa if:

• you intend to stay for the period indicated in brackets below or less
• you are in transit
• your visa exemption status has not been withdrawn by the Department of Home Affairs

General visa exemptions

• Commercial heavy-duty vehicle drivers who
  • enter the country from Swaziland, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia
    and Malawi
  • are visiting for not longer than 15 days
  • produce a letter confirming their employment with a transport company or entity

The same principle applies to Zimbabwean commercial heavy-duty truck drivers, but each sojourn must not exceed 30 days. The aforementioned does not apply to commercial heavy-duty truck drivers who transport goods for a South African transport company. Such drivers must be in possession of a valid work permit.

• Staff members of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) who
  • travel on SADC laissez-passers
  • travel on bona fide official business
  • stay for 90 days or less, or are in transit

• Holders of United Nations (UN) laissez-passers who
  • intend to visit South Africa for 90 days or less
  • visit the country for official business purposes
  • are in transit
  • are accredited for placement at a UN mission in South Africa for the duration of their accreditation
  • are volunteers attached to UN agencies and travel on ordinary passports, provided they possess relevant letters or identification documents as personnel of a UN agency
    • holders of UN laissez-passers
    • volunteers attached to the UN
    • persons involved in any UN agency
    • persons performing services on behalf of the UN

Members of military forces attending any military related matters with the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) are exempt from visa and study permit requirements, irrespective of their duration of stay, provided they are in possession of letters of invitation from the SANDF, as well as letters of consent from the military force of which they are members.

Work or study visa requirements

If you intend to be professionally active in South Africa or undertake any voluntary or paid employment or studies, you must apply for a work, work-seeker's or study permit. These permits are issued outside South Africa, and function as valid visas, allowing their holders to proceed to a South African port of entry. In other words, if you're applying for one of these permits, you do not have to apply for a visa separately. See:

• Work permits for South Africa
• Study permits for South Africa

Visa enquiries

To find out more about the visa requirements for entering South Africa, please visit the Department of Home Affairs travel information pages.