South Africa ETA: Live at Four Airports, and the Customs Form That Travels With It

SOUTH AFRICA · VISAS

The South Africa ETA is the online permit you buy before you fly. Here is what it covers, what it costs, and the customs form that sits beside it.

At OR Tambo International Airport on 12 August 2026, a new counter opened for arrivals. Travellers carrying a South Africa ETA on their phone were sent to it.

The morning a new counter opened at OR Tambo

President Cyril Ramaphosa launched the permit at OR Tambo International Airport near Johannesburg. Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber stood beside him on 12 August 2026.

ETA stands for Electronic Travel Authorisation. It is an online permit you apply for and pay for before you board.

An approved permit covers a stay of up to 90 days. The same system then allows an extension of up to 90 days more.

Schreiber said the Immigration Act allows that extension. It was the last piece built before the launch.

The four countries that went first

The system was piloted during South Africa’s G20 presidency. It opened to travellers from China, India, Indonesia and Mexico.

By launch day it had processed 216,204 applications, Schreiber said. The South Africa ETA had been running quietly for months before anyone cut a ribbon.

Home Affairs says the permit will progressively become compulsory for nationals of countries that need a port-of-entry visa. Embassies are told as their countries are added.

Visa-exempt travellers may use it by choice. They gain a faster counter on arrival and a simpler extension.

The application site publishes no list of eligible nationalities. Ask the South African mission in your country before you book a flight.

The gap bites hardest on a long move rather than a holiday. Our guide to retiring in South Africa covers the visas this permit does not touch.

What the application asks you for

You begin with a profile at eta.dha.gov.za. The site sends a one-time pin to your mobile number and another to your email.

Then you scan your passport and upload a selfie. Software compares the photograph in the passport with your face.

The same check tests the document against more than forty parameters. Payment follows, and then an automated risk check runs.

Schreiber said approved applicants have their authorisation within 24 hours. You can keep it in the digital wallet on your phone.

At the border counter you look into a camera. The system matches your face to that passport once more.

What it costs, and what the first screen does not show

Each application carries a processing fee of R500 (about US$31). It was gazetted on 17 August 2026, five days after the launch.

That is not the whole bill. Travellers who need a visa pay a further R425 (about US$26).

Schreiber put the combined cost at R925 (about US$57). Conversions use the 13 September 2026 rate of 16.14 rand to the dollar.

Home Affairs has not published a refund rule for rejected applications. Treat the money as spent once you press pay, and check every passport detail first.

The 24-hour figure is a departmental promise, not a deadline written into law. Schreiber quoted one Indian traveller whose approval arrived in eight minutes.

He also said 6,126 fraudulent applications had already been caught and refused. Wrong or mismatched details can push your file onto that review pile.

The second form, filed in the last 24 hours

A second rule sits beside the permit and reaches almost every traveller. Since 1 July 2026, anyone entering or leaving files an online traveller declaration.

It comes from the South African Revenue Service, the tax and customs authority known as SARS. The platform is the South African Traveller Management System, or SATMS.

SARS says the declaration goes in no more than 24 hours before you depart. It applies at air, land, sea and rail ports of entry.

You file it on the SARS website, the SATMS app or the SARS MobiApp. Children and infants need a declaration of their own.

SARS says nobody is turned back only for failing to declare in advance. Officials and self-service terminals at the ports help travellers catch up.

One group is left out. Air and sea passengers who only transit, and never leave the designated transit area, file nothing.

What is still being built

Arrivals are covered at four airports: OR Tambo, Cape Town, King Shaka and Lanseria. Land and sea ports are due to follow over the coming months.

The link to the airport eGates is unfinished. Schreiber publicly pressed the airports company and the border agency to speed the work up.

Until that link exists, officers still stamp passports by hand. The dedicated counters are the only gain in speed on offer.

Study, spousal and work visas are not on the platform. The department says those categories will be added over the coming months.

Home Affairs has not published a date for the land and sea ports, or for the eGate link. It has not named which nationalities join next.

The wider regional picture is moving too, and not always the same way. We looked at Africa’s push to drop visas earlier this year.

A simple order to do it in

Apply once your flights are booked, not the night before you fly. That leaves room if the automated check sends your file for a closer look.

Use the passport you will actually travel on, and check every digit. The camera at the border matches your face to that document, not to a replacement.

Save the approval in your phone wallet and carry a printout as well. Airport wifi fails and batteries die.

Then file the customs declaration inside the last 24 hours before departure. Keep the emailed confirmation where you can find it quickly.

More: South Africa news in English, every day from The Rio Times.

The big picture: South Africa explained — economy, politics, society and daily life in one read.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need a South Africa ETA to visit?

Only if your nationality has been added to the system. The application site publishes no list, so ask a South African mission before booking.

How much does the South African travel permit cost?

Processing costs R500 (about US$31) for each application. Travellers who need a visa pay a further R425 (about US$26), making R925 (about US$57).

How long does approval take?

Home Affairs says approved applicants have the authorisation within 24 hours. That is a stated target rather than a legal guarantee.

Do I still have to do the SARS traveller declaration?

Yes, and it is a separate step. File it online no more than 24 hours before departure, unless you stay inside a designated transit area.

Sources: Department of Home Affairs, Minister Schreiber’s launch address, 12 August 2026; Government Gazette No. 55209, first amendment of the fee regulations, 17 August 2026; Home Affairs fee schedule; SARS, FAQs on the required online traveller declarations from 1 July 2026; BusinessTech on the gazetted fee, 17 August 2026; eta.dha.gov.za; open.er-api.com.

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