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Transit Visa

South AfricaTransit

Explore the five recorded questions, answers and sources for this pathway.

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Explore pathways in South Africa Read the five questions ↓

Which travellers require a transit visa/permission and which officially documented exemptions are important?

Any person other than a South African citizen or permanent resident travelling through South Africa from a place outside it to a destination outside it needs a transit visa, subject to ministerial exemption. Under that exemption, from 18 December 2015 travellers other than deportees transiting through O R Tambo, Cape Town, King Shaka and Lanseria international airports do not need transit visas but are subject to biometric capture; deportees transiting at any port of entry must always hold a transit visa and be escorted. From 1 August 2022, ordinary passport holders of Pakistan and Bangladesh who intend to enter South Africa en route to another country must hold a port of entry or transit visa.

See recorded sources
Limits of the record
  • The captured sources do not say whether the airport exemption still applies when the traveller has to pass through immigration control.
  • https://www.dha.gov.za/images/PDFs/IMMIGRATION-ACT-2002---UPDATED-2015.pdf
    (1) Subject to subsection (4)(a), no person, other than a citizen or permanent resident, who is proceeding from a place outside the Republic to a destination outside the Republic, shall travel through the Prepared by: In partnership with: Page 22 of 60 Republic, unless he or she is in possession of a transit visa issued for that purpose in terms of subsection (2).
  • https://www.dha.gov.za/index.php/immigration-services/exempt-countries
    07. With effect from 18 December 2015 travellers, with the exception of deportees, who transit through O R Tambo International Airport; Cape Town International Airport; King Shaka International Airport and Lanseria International Airport do not require transit visas as contemplated in section 10B(4)(a) of the Immigration Act, 2002 (Act No 13 of 2002). However, transiting passengers will be subjected to biometric capturing. Deportees transiting at any port of entry are required to be in possession of a transit visa at all times and must be escorted.
  • https://www.dha.gov.za/index.php/immigration-services/exempt-countries
    08. Further to this, with effect from 1 August 2022 all ordinary passport holders of Pakistan and Bangladesh who intend to enter South Africa en route to another country, are required to be in possession of a port of entry or a transit visa, as the case may be.

Can the traveller remain airside, and under what circumstances must immigration control be crossed?

Official sources do not say whether air-transit passengers may remain airside. They state that travellers transiting through South Africa via land ports of entry must apply for a port of entry visa.

See recorded sources
Limits of the record
  • No official statement on airside transit or on when air-transit passengers must pass immigration control was found (DHA exempt-countries page, DHA types-of-visas page, DIRCO Canberra transit page, Act s10B, reg 10).

What officially documented baggage collection, terminal, separate-ticket or self-transfer situations affect the immigration requirement?

The checked official sources did not provide enough route-specific evidence to confirm the baggage, terminal-change and self-transfer rules.

See recorded sources
Limits of the record
  • Searched Act s10B, reg 10 (2014 and 2018) and the DHA exempt-countries page for baggage, terminal, separate-ticket or self-transfer rules: none found.

What maximum transit period, overnight, airport-change or multiple-stop rules matter?

A transit visa is issued for a maximum period not exceeding 24 hours for air transit, and not exceeding 48 hours for land transit.

See recorded sources
Limits of the record
  • The Immigration Regulations, 2014 were captured as published on 22 May 2014; later amendments to them, including the amendment that inserted regulation 18(12) and (13) referred to by the 2024 points-based system notice, were not captured in this run and could have changed this text.

If permission is required, what permission is it, where/how is it obtained, and what core onward-travel evidence is required?

The permission is the transit visa, applied for on Form 11 with a statement confirming the purpose and duration of the visit, a valid passport for each applicant, the applicable fee, proof of sufficient financial means and proof of a valid return or onward ticket or its purchase. The application is made in person at a South African mission in the country of the applicant's normal residence or of the passport held; when good cause exists another mission may accept it and refer it for comment or processing.

See recorded sources

These are the answers currently recorded in the catalogue. A missing or partial answer is not an eligibility decision.

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