South Africa is changing its visa application system to make it easier for foreigners to travel to the country for tourism, business and work, President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced.
In a State of the Nation Address on Thursday night, Ramaphosa said his government was working towards improving the current visa system, with a view to attracting critical skills and facilitating the recovery of the tourism sector.
“We are, therefore, streamlining and modernising the visa application process to make it easier to travel to South Africa for tourism, business and work,” Ramaphosa said.
He announced that as part of the review process, the government has introduced an electronic visa system that is now operational in a number of source markets.
“As we committed last year, the eVisa system has now been launched in 14 countries, including China, India, Kenya and Nigeria.”
The review is also exploring the possibility of new visa categories that could enable economic growth such as start-up visa and remote working visas, he said.
“A comprehensive review of the work visa system is currently underway.”
JN/APA