Department of Home Affairs Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi has announced that they are working on a number of changes which could include visa-free travel to the UK.
South Africa – Not too far back in the past, travel to the United Kingdom used to be entry-free. Then claims of fraudulent South African passports surfaced, and the United Kingdom government implemented the visa rule.
Since then, the South African Department of Home Affairs has worked on the passport, making it hard to create fraudulent copies. They are hoping these new changes will mean a reconsideration on the visa process. Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi spoke to Refilwe Moloto from 702 about the changes to the country’s visa regime.
“We used to enter the UK visa-free, but unfortunately, something happened some years back where there were complaints where other nations were able to forge our passport. We have improved, our passports are harder to forge now and we think the UK should reconsider.” – Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, Department of Home Affairs Minister
Just last week, we shared the happy news that South Africa is now able to travel visa-free or easy entry to 101 countries. The Passport Index releases the list every year along with travel rankings for each passport. While it is still harder to get visas than other countries each year we get access to more and more countries, visa-free!
We too hope the United Kingdom reconsider the visa process; it will make travel for South Africans even easier.
If you would like to know the 101 countries South Africa has access to, check out the full list here. Or if you are not a South African Passport holder, you can check yours on the Passport Index here.
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