If you’ve grown up watching the ‘Lion King’, as well as numerous other documentaries on BBC, National Geographic, etc., then I’m sure that South Africa is high up on your bucket list! Not only is it a safari superpower for the well-known ‘Big Five‘ (buffalo, elephant, leopard, lion, and rhino), but it is also specked with rugged mountains, lush reserves, and diverse wildlife among many others that would instantly fill up your itinerary. (South Africa Visa)
What to Do in South Africa?
Come and check out this list of the top things to do in South Africa which features the best activities and tours to do in places like Cape Town and more!
In order to visit here, as a Filipino citizen, we need to apply for a South Africa visa first. But don’t fret because it’s quite fast and easy to get one, and I hope that my visa guide and tips below will help you to on a successful application!
…But first, a disclaimer:
NO ONE can give you a guarantee on your South Africa visa’s approval — not even a lawyer, a consultant, a travel agent, or an embassy employee. Anyone who says otherwise is most likely going to be a scammer.
That being said, what I can offer you here is a comprehensive guide with helpful tips to increase your chances of getting that South Africa Visa.
2024 UPDATE: You can now apply for an eVisa to South Africa! To do this, you just need to go to this website. Back when I visited South Africa, this wasn’t available yet so I went through the usual direct application — if you want to do that, simply continue reading the rest of this blog entry. Hope it helps!
Application Process for South Africa Visa
Step 1: Determine the type of South Africa Visa that you need to apply for
There are, of course, various types of South Africa visas out there that you can apply for: a visa for studying, a visa for working, a visa for marriage, etc.
But for this particular guide, I will only be discussing the requirements for a visit or tourist visa for less than 30 days since it’s an experience that I’ve gone through myself.
If, however, you have a complicated situation or a different purpose of visit, it’s best that you head over to this page for more information.
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Step 2: Prepare required documents
Below are the required documents for acquiring a South Africa visa.
IMPORTANT NOTES:
– Applications with incomplete documents will NOT be accepted.
– If you filled any of the documents below by hand, please ensure that it is in black ink only and that there are no erasures.
– It is said that if you are traveling more than once a year, it is possible to apply for multiple entries of up to 3 years — but take note that all decisions regarding the issuance of, number of entries and duration of a visa are at the sole discretion of the embassy, and it is not guaranteed that the embassy will grant your request.
Basic Requirements
- Passport — It should be valid for at least 30 days after the intended stay/departure date from South Africa. You must also ensure that there are at least two (2) unused/blank pages on your passport.
. - Photocopy of Passport — You must also submit a photocopy of the passport’s first page (which contains your passport bio-data and personal information).
. - Passport photos — Provide two (2) recent passport-sized photos (35mm x 45mm) that are NOT older than 30 days/1 month.
. - Duly accomplished visa application form — This is Form-11 (DHA-84) which you can download through this link. You must sign this and do ensure that your signature must match the signature on your passport.
- Remember to write in capital letters and in black ink only.
- Ensure that there are NO erasures.
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- Vaccination certificate — This is only if you are you are arriving from or have been in transit longer than 12 hours at the airport of any of the following yellow fever risk countries…
- Angola, Argentina, Benin, Bolivia, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Colombia, Congo, Republic of the Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ecuador, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, French Guiana, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, and Venezuela.
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- Angola, Argentina, Benin, Bolivia, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Colombia, Congo, Republic of the Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ecuador, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, French Guiana, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, and Venezuela.
- Proof of financial resources — Provide a bank statement showing the past 3 months. This must be certified by the bank and not older than 7 days from the time of application.
- The following are NOT required, however, it’s highly advisable that you submit them to increase your chances for approval on your South Africa visa:
- For students: School records and/or approval of leave of absence
- For employed persons: Original Certificate of Employment and photocopy of latest ITR.
- For self-employed / business persons: If you own a business, submit photocopies of your Business Registration issued by DTI / SEC, the company ITR, and Business Permit or Mayor’s Permit. If you’re a freelancer, provide the latest photocopy of your ITR.
- Others: Photocopies of any of your real properties (car, land, condominium, etc.)
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- The following are NOT required, however, it’s highly advisable that you submit them to increase your chances for approval on your South Africa visa:
Start filing your local taxes as early as NOW — after all, a lot of embassies (not only South Africa) require an ITR. So if you’re looking for a hassle-free experience on Philippines tax compliance, I suggest registering with Taxumo because they can take care of literally everything for you: tax forms, payments, and submissions. I’ve been using them for years now and it has been such a time-saver.
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- Travel reservations – These are flight and hotel reservation(s) only for the entire duration of your stay in South Africa.
- Hotels: I usually reserve my hotel stays via Booking.com and/or Agoda.com. With them, you can reserve a hotel with NO pre-payment and you can even cancel the booking a day before your arrival with NO cancellation charges at all. So yes, you can make reservations without any payment, you can change the reservation anytime, AND you can cancel them at no cost as well if in case your visa is not approved.
- Flights: You can easily get a flight reservation online with OneWayFly for a small fee of only Php 1,000~. I highly recommend them because they are fast, easy, and legitimate; plus, I have been using them for years for all of my visa applications! (Read here for more info).
- Later on, in case you want to book your flight, my go-to platform is Skyscanner since it scans through all the international airlines (budget and luxury lines) to present to you the best deals.
- Cover letter & itinerary – This should be signed by you (the applicant) and it should state your name, passport number, duration of visit, physical address, contact details, and work. You should also clearly mention who will bear the expenses of the trip — if it’s you or a sponsor. If you have a representative who is submitting your application on your behalf, you must put his/her contact details as well.
- For a sample cover letter and itinerary that I made, you can see this link.
Extra Requirements
- If married — Bring your original marriage certificate (as well as a photocopy). The original is needed for verification purposes only at the time of submission.
. - If you were invited — Provide an invitation letter with a signature from your host in South Africa.
. - If a minor — Take note of the following…
- Submit a Parental Consent Affidavit form, as well as a passport copy of the parents and the child.
- Provide an Unabridged Birth Certificate of the child must be carried for the Parental Consent Affidavit procedure.
- If an unabridged birth certificate is in the local language, then an English translation affidavit must be produced along with the local language unabridged birth certificate.
- In case of the death of either parent, a death certificate has to be produced. Or if both parents are dead, the South Africa visa procedure should be done by a legal guardian (death certificates of both parents should also be submitted).
- In case of divorce, the legal divorce documents have to be produced.
- The affidavit must be less than 3 months old as part of the application.
- You should keep the originals for your records while traveling.
- Submit a Parental Consent Affidavit form, as well as a passport copy of the parents and the child.
NOTE: It is possible that the South Africa Embassy might request more information or additional documents from you which is apart from the basic requirements above. In my case though, they didn’t ask for anything else (thankfully!).
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Step 3: Submit to VFS Global
VFS Global is the external service provider that receives South Africa visa applications on the Embassy’s behalf. You can also just walk in because there is no need for appointments.
To submit your application, you can do either of the following…
- Submit in person. VFS is open from Mondays to Fridays, except for holidays, to individual applicants from 7AM to 11:30AM and 1PM to 3:30PM (take note that they have lunch breaks). The address is at:
VFS Global Services
South Africa Visa Application Centre
Ground Floor, Makati Circuit Corporate Center
Tower Two, AP Reyes St. Brgy. Carmona, Theater Drive Circuit Makati
Philippines
. - Submit via a representative. Just provide an authorization letter with copies of your ID and the representative. For representatives, VFS accepts applications from 7AM to 11AM and 1PM to 3PM on Mondays to Fridays.
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IMPORTANT: You must apply at least 7 days (but no more than 30 days or 4 weeks) before your flight. So, nope, you cannot apply earlier than 4 weeks before your flight.
As for the payment, the visa fee is FREE if you’re staying for less than 30 days — or Php 2,525 if you’re staying for 30 days and beyond. This does not include yet the service fee with VFS (Php 2,000), SMS notifications (Php 120, optional), and courier delivery (Php 370, optional).
Take note that you can only pay in cash and in Php.
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Step 4: Wait for the results of your South Africa Visa
Visas that are less than 3 months take only 5 business days to process — but I actually got mine in just 3 business days after I passed my application! But of course, bear in mind that each application is subject to an individual assessment, so processing time may vary.
You can collect your passport from Mondays to Fridays, at 2PM to 4PM.
To give you an idea of my timeline…
- August 28: Submitted my South Africa visa application to VFS
- August 29: Got an email from VFS that my application has been passed on to the embassy
- August 31: Got an email and SMS that I can pick up my passport at VFS
If you want to track your application, you can check here.
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» Top South Africa Tours «
Cape Town City Tour
…with Table Mountain stop!
Cape Peninsula Day Tour
See the natural wonders of this famous route!
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FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
You must apply at least 7 days (but no more than 30 days or 4 weeks) before your flight. So, nope, you cannot apply earlier than 4 weeks before your flight.
es! In fact, if you are traveling more than once a year to South Africa, it is possible to apply for multiple entries of up to 3 years. Just ensure that you indicate in your cover letter why you need this kind of visa, as well as provide the necessary documents and details to explain your travel plans. But of course, remember that the issuance of a multiple entry visa is not guaranteed as it is still up to the sole discretion of the embassy.
The Embassy of South Africa did not explicitly state a money requirement, so just make sure that your bank account covers the cost of your flight, accommodation, and daily expenses for the trip (in a sense, about $50 a day for other expenses in South Africa is somewhat enough).
Like I’ve mentioned above, it usually takes 5 working days (or more, if in case the Embassy wants more documents from you). But I got mine in just 3 working days.
I didn’t do any interviews. VFS was only there to collect and check your documents. However, it is possible that the Embassy of South Africa may request you to visit them for an interview after they receive your documents — but I’ve never heard of such a case when applying for a tourist visa only.
You can check here to track the progress of your South Africa visa application.
The Embassy nor VFS have not provided any information about when you can re-apply — but the fact remains that you can re-apply. Just make sure that you identified what might have triggered a red flag on your application, and then ensure that your next application corrects that.
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Booking Essentials
TIP: It’s a good idea to crosscheck the prices with other popular travel insurance providers like World Nomads and HeyMondo (as my reader, you get 5% off)!
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However, take note a travel insurance’s affordability typically means lesser coverage; so please always ensure that you read the fine print in order to decipher which travel insurance company is the right fit for you and your trip!
Looking for more travel tips for South Africa?
Check out my other detailed South Africa travel guides!
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Applying for a South Africa visa is relatively easy, and I hope that with this visa guide, I can help you prepare your documents and requirements better.
Let me know how it goes! Good luck!
Hi. Thanks for sharing this. Just want to ask if this process of application still applicable in VFS Global?
thanks
Yes, it still is! Good luck :D
Thank you so much for this very comprehensive guide!
As of today (October 2024), VFS Global listed “Proof of financial – 3 months bank statement, certified by bank and not older than 7 days from the time of application.”
Does their “bank statement” refer to the Statement of Account or Bank Certificate? I’ve asked 3 different banks, only one of them certifies the Statement of Account while the others just generate one through the bank’s app :/
Hey Angelica! Yes, a bank statement is different from a bank certificate. I have an account with BDO and they usually issue this to me with no problems. A bank statement usually just shows all your past transactions in the past months. If your bank doesn’t have it, you can try to give to the embassy whatever you can acquire, and it might not hurt to submit a bank ceritificate too.
Hope this helps!
Hi, do we need travel insurance to be approved? Is it necessary?
Thank you for your blog. It was very helpful and easy to navigate. :)
It’s not required, but highly recommended that you get one especially since you’re traveling to South Africa (it’s to ensure that you’re covered during the duration of your trip).
And you’re welcome! I’m happy to hear this <3
Hi –do you have to have your coverletter notarized?
In my case, not at all! It was just a simple letter :)
Hi mam ask ko lang po if need ng latest birth certificate issue 2023 para sa south african visa application? Or pwde kahit un release ng 2021 photocopy lang naman po need nila dba?
Thank you
Hey Fritzy, for what purpose is this? Are you a minor or do you have a minor and it is for submitting a Parental Consent Affidavit? If so, it’s better to get a recent copy. Otherwise, a simple tourist visa application does not need you to submit your birth certificate. Hope this helps!