The department of home affairs plans to shut down all tourist visa processing at South African missions abroad, minister Leon Schreiber has announced, with all applications to be routed instead through the department’s Electronic Travel Authorisation system.
Speaking at the release of a Special Investigating Unit interim report on Monday, Schreiber said the move will be expanded to cover study visas and eventually every visa category, with the goal of eliminating manual processing entirely by the end of the current administration in 2029.
“By moving all visa processing to the ETA, we are closing each and every one of the loopholes that were previously exploited to grant non-qualifying or fraudulent applications,” Schreiber said.
The announcement follows the SIU’s interim findings under Proclamation 154 of 2024, which investigated maladministration in visa issuance stretching back to October 2004. According to Schreiber, the probe found that the bulk of visa fraud was perpetrated by a small number of officials who exploited the manual, paper-based nature of the system.
Twenty officials have been dismissed since April last year, with 75 disciplinary cases completed over the past two financial years. The department has also identified more than 2 000 fraudulently issued study visas, which are now being cancelled.
The ETA, launched ahead of last year’s G20 leaders’ meeting, uses machine learning to verify document authenticity and biometric facial matching to confirm applicants’ identities against their passport photos. Since launch, the system has declined more than 30 000 applications that did not meet requirements for tourist visas.
Biometrics
Schreiber said the department is working with the Border Management Authority and the South African Revenue Service to expand facial recognition capabilities to all international airports and the busiest land ports of entry.
The ETA also feeds into home affairs’ broader ambition to build an “intelligent population register” underpinning a new digital ID system, which would use biometrics to protect citizenship and identity records.
Read: Home affairs’ R10 ID fee is forcing companies to rethink identity verification
However, Schreiber offered no firm timelines for completing the transition beyond “the end of this administration”, nor any indication of the budget required. – © 2026 NewsCentral Media
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