The South Africa Government is set to try out a new e-visa system and an e-Gate platform in November. This is in a bid to reduce the stress of visa acquisition for the country and to attract tourists and investors to the country.
e-Visa will eliminate the need to visit the South Africa embassy or consulate to obtain a visa and cut off the bottlenecks encountered during visa application.
According to South Africa’s Department of Home and Affairs spokesperson Siya Qoza, the e-Visa pilot test will first be conducted in Kenya at the OR Tambo and Lanseria Airports. The test is meant to help the South African government determine how resilient the system is before expanding the service to other countries.
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During the pilot test, South Africa will process online visas for Kenyan travellers all through November. Within this period, the country will identify issues and difficulties of the e-visa system while providing possible solutions.
The country is also testing the e-Gates system for South Africa airports. e-Gates will facilitate low-risk identification for travelers through a self-service solution. The project will enhance the assessment of high-risk category travelers by the immigration department while promoting easy identification.
The first phase of the e-Gate project will focus on South African passport holders, excluding minors. It will allow these passport holders to conduct biometric verification, passport authenticity and validity checks against the BMCS risk engine.
The e-Gate project will be introduced in different phases. The dates for the first phased launch is yet to be announced.
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