The Africa Visa Openness Index, a joint initiative of the African Development Bank and the African Union Commission, has tracked visa regimens in Africa since 2016. SA is ranked 33rd out of 54 African countries, which is no surprise as its online system is far from user-friendly.
Ten months after President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the launch of e-Visas for 14 countries, including China, India, Kenya and Nigeria, to streamline and modernise the visa application process, South Africa is trailing behind other African countries.
The e-Visa was envisaged to enable visitors to apply and pay online for a visa from their home country, without visiting the SA Mission.
The Africa Visa Openness Index, a joint initiative of the African Development Bank and the African Union Commission, has tracked visa regimens in Africa since 2016.
The latest index shows many countries have returned to pre-pandemic levels of visa openness. For each country, it calculates the number of countries whose citizens must obtain visas before travelling, the countries whose citizens may obtain a visa upon arrival, and those whose citizens do not need a visa to enter. The countries are then assigned a visa openness score and ranked, on a scale of 0 to 1.
South Africa scores an abysmal 33 out of 54, level with Niger.
Poor showing
SA has a dismal e-Visa service and does not offer travellers visas on arrival. It has been heavily criticised by South Africans and visitors alike, who find the Department of Home Affairs’ website impossible to navigate.
Some of the country’s top banks — FNB, Nedbank, Absa, Standard Bank and Investec — have stepped in to assist clients by enabling the processing of the e-Visas, but the operation remains cumbersome and frustrating. Most complaints on social media relate to the inability to upload documents, receive one-time PINs, and secure bookings.
Last week, Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi told Parliament that his department had a visa backlog of more than 56,500 applications, which it hoped to clear by the middle of 2024.
The visa applications backlog has not been helped by Home Affairs’ decision to centralise long-term visa applications, which resulted in delayed processing times and missed opportunities for travel and business.
He said the turnaround times for visas differ, depending on which visa is being processed, but that it usually takes between four and 10 weeks to process critical skills visas, while business and work visas take up to 14 weeks.
Policy changes
The Africa Visa Openness Index ...