Planning a safari or a Cape Town conference just got easier. South Africa’s home-affairs ministry rolled out an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) on 28 July, promising approval within 24–48 hours for short-term visits. Indian, Chinese, Indonesian and Mexican citizens are in the first tranche. Applicants create an account, upload their passport, complete a selfie for biometric match and pay online; the ETA is digitally linked to the passport and allows multiple 90-day entries. For Indians, the move removes the need to courier documents to VFS centres and can save up to three weeks of processing time. Tour operators say the change could revive Indian arrivals, which dipped to 74,000 in 2025—still 30 % below pre-pandemic levels. Business chambers also welcome the shift: executives attending Johannesburg-based mining and fintech conferences often had to chase last-minute visa slots. Caveats: the ETA is valid only for arrivals at Johannesburg (O.R. Tambo), Cape Town or Lanseria airports; land borders will be added later. Work activities remain prohibited; Indian film crews and tech installers must still apply for specific work visas. Advice for corporates: integrate the new ETA into online booking tools and alert travelling staff to the digital-selfie requirement, which has a high rejection rate if lighting is poor.
Source: NDTV Travel
