Home Affairs is on a bit of a roll lately. Sure, it hasn’t actually done much other than spout some grandiose ideas — like digitising the country’s smart ID and passport services across all the major banks — and, more recently, the new Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) system. The project, announced yesterday, aims to shake up the stagnant visa structures in SA by bringing them into the digital present.
“The ETA is set to eliminate visa barriers that have suppressed South Africa’s tourism potential for many years, while simultaneously revolutionising the security of our immigration processes,” said Leon Schreiber, Home Affairs Minister.
We accept Visa
Home Affairs is building the future. Our Electronic Travel Authorisation digitalises and automates visas through machine learning, eliminating inefficiency that deters tourism while supercharging security. User acceptance testing end Sept, go-live for G20 attendees by mid Oct! 🇿🇦 pic.twitter.com/B2s69m0Mt8
— Leon Schreiber (@Leon_Schreib) September 18, 2025
By allowing tourists to apply online, capture biometrics, and receive approvals all in “real-time”, Home Affairs hopes to eliminate the need for complex documentation and overtly lengthy processing times. Even a minuscule reduction in queue times would be welcome, though Home Affairs has bigger ideas.
It will be some time before the regular folk can take advantage of these digital systems. “User acceptance testing” will only begin trials by the end of September, before officially initiating phase one of the plan. Delegates from China, India, Indonesia, and Mexico attending any G20 meetings from mid-October will be the first to properly trial the system, before it eventually expands to tourists from those countries in late November.
Read More: Absa and Discovery hop aboard Home Affairs’ smart ID and passport expansion train
The ETA initiative will incorporate an upgraded Electronic Movement Control System that utilises facial recognition tech at ports of entry, starting with OR Tambo and Cape Town International Airport. Only once the system is stable will it be expanded to become the “single entry-point for tourist visas”.
“Instead of long queues, paper forms and inefficiency, from now on, the first impression that tourists will get of South Africa will be when they apply online for an ETA – showcasing a country with an immigration system that is rapidly modernising, embracing innovation, and blazing a trail towards becoming a world leader in digital transformation,” Schreiber concluded.
