The South African Department of Home Affairs says the country’s new eVisa system will launch in November 2019, and it has added new nations to the list of countries that can enter South Africa visa-free, BusinessTech reports.
The countries are Ghana, Cuba, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, and Sao Tome and Principe
Minister of Home Affairs, Aaron Motsoaledi, said “Tourism will soar if we relax visa requirements for entry into South Africa. We know that Tourism is very important for job creation.”
“Out of the 193 countries, who are member states of the United Nations, the Department has granted visa-free status to 75 countries. Of these 16 are in our continent and are SADC members and 59 are from all over the world.”
The minister said that his office will immediately enter into discussions with the countries about how a visa-free regime will work, with “homework” still needing to be done for countries like China, India and Nigeria.
“While we are busy tackling the matter of the three countries, we shall this financial year increase two and a half times the number of people who work for Home Affairs to process visas in both China and India. We shall double the number of people who process visas to our country in Nigeria,” he said.
According to the latest Henley Passport Index, South Africans can visit 99 countries around the globe visa-free.
