Visiting South Africa

Requirements for all visitors to South Africa:

• A valid and acceptable passport or travel document for your intended stay.
• At least one blank page (two to be safe) in your passport for endorsements important
• A valid visa, if required
• Sufficient funds to pay for your day-to-day expenses during your stay
• A return or onward ticket
• Yellow fever certificates if your journey starts or entails passing through the yellow fever belt of Africa or South America.

Countries requiring visas

Many nationalities are exempt from requiring a visa to enter South Africa, citizens of these countries may visit South Africa for up to 90 days (or in some cases 30 days) without a visa. This includes most of Western Europe, USA, and Canada.

Visa Application process

Other attendees need to apply for a visa. Visa applications don't need to be made in-person — there is no visa interview — they can be done by courier. Some countries citizens are charged fees for a visa, for others the visa is free of charge.

Conference attendees should apply for an ordinary tourist visitor visa (Form BI-84). If you need an invitation letter, please send your request to visa@debconf.org and make sure to include your full name, passport number and expiration date as well as your physical address.

• South African missions abroad.
• Mission web sites (for missions that have them).

Bringing children to South Africa

South Africa has strict requirements for children travelling into or out of the country. Contact the visa team if you need any help navigating these.