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Godongwana says South African eVisa system now available in 34 countries

Source: Sa Migration, 18/03/2025




`Residents from 34 countries can now apply for a visa to South Africa online. There are now 34 countries that can apply for a visa to South Africa online, which National Treasury says will help attract more tourists and skills into the country.This was trumpeted in Wednesday`s Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) as being one of the key successes of Operation Vulindlela. Operation Vulindlela is a joint initiative of the Presidency and National Treasury to assist in the acceleration of critical reforms needed to accelerate the economy.Implementing an eVisa and visa waiver system was one of its key milestones, given the benefits for attracting tourists and skilled workers into the country.An eVisa system allows people from other countries to apply for a visa to visit South Africa without having to visit an embassy or consulate.Beyond the online portal, the Department of Home Affairs has been making significant progress in clearing a backlog of visa applications created by a change in IT service providers late last year. Other successes the MTBPS highlighted included:-There are more than 8 500MW project registrations with South Africa’s energy regulator.-Treasury claims mobile data prices decreased by 51% between 2021 and 2023.-There have been more than 200 days without large-scale power cuts.-The timeframe for farms and large businesses to get a water licence has been cut down to 90 days from 300 days.On the technology front, other initiatives that Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana set out in his speech included plans to build a digital social grant disbursement platform, creating a digital ID card, building a centralised government website, and digitising health records in preparation for the rollout of a National Health Insurance system.`


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