Arrival

Visa and Entry Requirements
No visa is required by citizens of the European Union, United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand to enter South Africa. As long as you carry a valid passport you will be granted a temporary visitor's permit, which allows you to stay for up to 90 days in South Africa.

Visas are required from citizens of most African, eastern European, Asian and South American countries, which must be purchased prior to arrival. All other visitors, including academics, students on educational trips, and volunteers, may need visas; otherwise they take the chance that they will be refused admission and returned to their point of origin.

Please note that anyone traveling to South Africa must have two consecutive blank pages in their passport which lie side by side when the passport is open. Passports must also be valid for at least 6 months.

In addition, a parent traveling with children, without the other parent, will need a letter of consent from the absent parent. The letter of consent must be certified by the police.

Enquiries may be directed to South African Diplomatic Representatives abroad or to the Department of Home Affairs in Pretoria or Cape Town.

Customs
There are certain goods that are prohibited or restricted in South Africa to protect citizen's safety, health and environment.

Passengers in possession of prohibited or restricted goods, e.g. meat, live animals, dangerous drugs, firearms, ammunition, explosives, pornographic material, agricultural products, any plants, seeds, bulbs, honey etc. must declare such goods.

In the normal course of events, medicines are prohibited if imported by private individuals. But, by way of a concession, immigrants and tourists visiting the Republic may bring with them for their personal use a supply of one month provided they are in possession of a prescription for such medicine or a certificate from a chemist to the effect that the medicine was duly prescribed by a physician. This does not apply to small amounts of patent medicine, e.g. aspirin, which are carried for own use.

Please take note: This information is meant to serve as a guide only. Requirements for entry into South Africa differ from country to country, are subject to change, and each application is treated as an individual case. Always make inquiries before travelling to South Africa.