SA WILL consider waiving the need for visitors from China, India and Russia to have a visa, the director-general of the Department of Home Affairs, Mkuseli Apleni, said on Friday.
The government is also considering granting visas on arrival to travellers who already have permits in their passports to travel to the US, UK, Canada "or any other country that applies stringent checks on visitors to their countries, to ease travel for tourists," Mr Apleni told reporters at a briefing in Pretoria.
Last month, Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba waived the requirement for Chinese travellers to apply for a visa in-person, as long as they were part of a tour group.
This is because the tourism sector in China is highly regulated and operators are already accredited with the government there.
The home affairs department was also considering a long-term multiple-entry visa for a period exceeding three months and up to three years for frequent travellers.
"A 10-year visa waiver for business executives from Brics (Brazil, Russia, India, China {and SA}) countries is also available … allowing such executives to remain in (SA) for 30 days at a time," said Mr Apleni.
Mr Apleni also said the department had made progress in implementing concessions to its contested immigration regulations, according to a tourism industry executive.
Last year, a Cabinet-appointed interministerial committee considered the concerns of stakeholders, particularly the tourism sector, and recommended that the department make some compromises.
This was after an uproar that the requirements, which came into effect in June, were causing damage to the tourism industry and the economy.
The new visa regime, which critics had described as onerous, required prospective visitors to have their biometric data captured at a visa centre and parents travelling with minors to be in possession of a certified unabridged birth certificate, as well as a letter of consent, in cases where a child was travelling with one parent or a relative.
Ms Apleni said the department had decided that it could do without having to change the law.
Between November and December last year he met the stakeholders to give them an update on the progress made in implementing the concessions. He said the department was already capturing travellers’ biometrics at ports of entry, starting at OR Tambo, King Shaka and Cape Town airports.
The department has developed a standardised template for school principals to issue letters confirming permission for children to travel on school tours.
It has also extended the validity of the parental consent affidavit from four to six months, and is working on printing the details of parents on their children’s passports so they do not have to carry birth certificates.
Also present Friday’s briefing was Southern Africa Tourism Services Association CEO David Frost, who said: "I think this hopefully brings to an end what has been … an arduous 18 months."
He added that "good progress" had been made since the possible changes to immigration regulations were announced.
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Mkuseli Apleni, left. Picture: SOWETAN
SA WILL consider waiving the need for visitors from China, India and Russia to have a visa, the director-general of the Department of Home Affairs, Mkuseli Apleni, said on Friday.
The government is also considering granting visas on arrival to travellers who already have permits in their passports to travel to the US, UK, Canada "or any other country that applies stringent checks on visitors to their countries, to ease travel for tourists," Mr Apleni told reporters at a briefing in Pretoria.
Last month, Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba waived the requirement for Chinese travellers to apply for a visa in-person, as long as they were part of a tour group.
This is because the tourism sector in China is highly regulated and operators are already accredited with the government there.
The home affairs department was also considering a long-term multiple-entry visa for a period exceeding three months and up to three years for frequent travellers.
"A 10-year visa waiver for business executives from Brics (Brazil, Russia, India, China {and SA}) countries is also available … allowing such executives to remain in (SA) for 30 days at a time," said Mr Apleni.
Mr Apleni also said the department had made progress in implementing concessions to its contested immigration regulations, according to a tourism industry executive.
Last year, a Cabinet-appointed interministerial committee considered the concerns of stakeholders, particularly the tourism sector, and recommended that the department make some compromises.
This was after an uproar that the requirements, which came into effect in June, were causing damage to the tourism industry and the economy.
The new visa regime, which critics had described as onerous, required prospective visitors to have their biometric data captured at a visa centre and parents travelling with minors to be in possession of a certified unabridged birth certificate, as well as a letter of consent, in cases where a child was travelling with one parent or a relative.
Ms Apleni said the department had decided that it could do without having to change the law.
Between November and December last year he met the stakeholders to give them an update on the progress made in implementing the concessions. He said the department was already capturing travellers’ biometrics at ports of entry, starting at OR Tambo, King Shaka and Cape Town airports.
The department has developed a standardised template for school principals to issue letters confirming permission for children to travel on school tours.
It has also extended the validity of the parental consent affidavit from four to six months, and is working on printing the details of parents on their children’s passports so they do not have to carry birth certificates.
Also present Friday’s briefing was Southern Africa Tourism Services Association CEO David Frost, who said: "I think this hopefully brings to an end what has been … an arduous 18 months."
He added that "good progress" had been made since the possible changes to immigration regulations were announced.
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