South Africa’s visa requirements for travellers from New Zealand have again come under the spotlight after two Kiwi rugby players playing for a top Irish team were denied access ahead of the first Euro-South African Pro14 rugby tournament played in South Africa.

The tournament kicked off its first game in South Africa last weekend in Nelson Mandela Bay, Port Elizabeth. Irish team, Leinster ran on to the field without their New Zealand captain, Isa Nacewa, and team mate Jamison Gibson-Park, because they had not managed to get visas which can only be issued if they went back to New Zealand.

While other visa applicants can apply through their nearest SA High Commission, the new visa requirement for New Zealand passport holders stipulates they apply for their visas in person at the South African High Commission in Wellington or a satellite station in Auckland. This was implemented earlier this year and saw some SA tour operators experiencing cancellations as well as a decline in bookings. 

Many New Zealanders travel and work in other countries, like the rugby players, but unless they have permanent residence in that country the SA Department of Home Affairs has taken the unusual step of making them return to New Zealand to get a visa.

According to the latest Stats SA report for June 2017, New Zealand visitors to South Africa dropped by 24%, from 1 677 in 2016 to 1 275 this year. This is at a time when when tourism number could have been expected to rise to a similar extent as Australia’s 14 %.

Sean Berenson, GM of Flight Centre in New Zealand, said the new visa restrictions for Kiwis travelling to SA had “caused considerable inconvenience” for some of its customers.

While the opening of two new visa application centres in Auckland and Wellington and improvements in streamlining the process are certainly steps in the right direction, the situation is far from ideal for many travellers.

 “Although bookings are steady, we have seen no growth in tourism to South Africa, which is a shame as it's such a beautiful country to visit with so much to offer. The new visa restrictions are likely to be partly to blame for this,” said Berenson.

Map of countries that require a visa to enter SA. (Wikipedia)

Natasha Sinclair owner of Indafrica Travel Marketing in NZ commented on a story published by Tourism Update this month regarding the NZ visa debacle

“The process for NZ passport holders is extremely painful as it has been taking up to a month for a visa to be processed, rather than 5-7 days as per the guideline on the VFS website, on top of the requirement to apply in person at the VFS office in Auckland or Wellington. We have yet to receive a booking for clients who are not close to Auckland or Wellington for South Africa for 2018.”

She said she recently had clients turn down a 17-day tour through South Africa in October as they didn’t want to risk their visa not being issued on time.

“Agents are specifically contacting us asking for safari options that ‘don't include South Africa’ and, in some cases, South Africa would be the best fit for the clients. Clients are no longer looking to add a South African leg to their trip on the way home from Europe as they would have to make the time to get a South African visa during their travels,” said Sinclair.