Home affairs to expand digital visa system after blocking 5,500 travellers

Home affairs minister Leon Schreiber says South Africa’s new electronic travel authorisation (ETA) system has already prevented more than 5,500 travellers from entering the country after detecting fraudulent or suspicious applications as the government prepares to expand the digital visa platform to more countries.

Speaking to Newzroom Afrika, Schreiber described the ETA as a “game changer” that will modernise South Africa’s immigration system by replacing paper-based visa processes with biometric verification and automated security checks.

“I think the implementation of systemic reform is really the key for us, not only going forward but actually over the past few years. I think the most important specific reform that South Africans will soon see the fruits of is our electronic travel authorisation system. Within the next few weeks, we will be announcing the scale-up of this world-class new visa processing system, which is going to address not the symptoms but the systemic causes, the root causes of the challenges we have seen over so many years in South Africa,” he said.

The department launched the ETA portal last year, initially targeting travellers from China, India, Indonesia and Mexico entering through OR Tambo International Airport and Cape Town International Airport.

Schreiber said the pilot had already demonstrated the technology’s effectiveness.

“We rolled out the ETA, as we call it, in October last year for travellers. Those are basically tourists from four countries who need visas to visit South Africa. In that period, we’ve been able to test the system, which requires you to upload a selfie, upload your passport through your mobile device and then we do facial verification,” he said.

He said the system verifies travellers’ identities against their passports while checking dozens of security markers.

“We’re able to check 40 different parameters to determine whether the passport and your other documentation is authentic. Through this embrace of technology, we’ve seen more than 5,500 travellers who have been denied an ETA because of this new technology. More than 85,000 have been successfully processed through the system,” said Schreiber.

Schreiber said the department would begin expanding the system to more countries within weeks before eventually making it the standard gateway for all visa applicants.

“As we roll it out for every kind of visa category, we want every person entering South Africa to come in through the ETA system. It’s a digital system, there is no piece of paper that you can manipulate. It’s all linked to facial verification and biometrics. It’s a game changer,” he said.

The home affairs department says the system is designed around automation and data security, with about 85% of visa applications processed automatically using AI-powered risk assessments.

The department aims to process eligible applications within 24 hours while using biometric verification, real-time status validation, end-to-end encryption and compliance with the Protection of Personal Information Act.

If the pilot remains stable, home affairs plans to extend the platform to all travellers from the four pilot countries before expanding it globally to all visa-required markets by 2026.

Schreiber said the ETA is only the first phase of broader immigration reforms.

“I would say we should look at this as a foundational reform. In other words, it doesn’t mean that there aren’t further layers on top that are required, but without something like the ETA, we wouldn’t get anywhere. So this is giving us the foundation,” he said.

The minister highlighted a R12.5bn public-private partnership to rebuild South Africa’s six busiest land ports of entry.

“That is a R12.5bn project under way, which we will roll out over the next few years,” he said.

TimesLIVE