Africa - Visiting South Africa: passport must have at least 1 blank visa page available

The Visa instructions for an American visiting S Africa state that one's passport must have at least 1 blank visa page available. He knew this, as he had carefully read the requirements. When he arrived in London to board his SA flight to Capetown, the airline refused to allow him to board. They said that although he did have blank pages in his passport, they were not specific "Visa pages" and he would not be admitted through immigration when he arrived in Capetown.

Just a warning to anyone going to S Africa - make sure you have blank VISA PAGES in your passport.

And people think US red tape is bad! :td:

Yup.

From the US State Department Web Site:

South African law requires travelers to have one (1) blank (unstamped) visa page in their passport to enter the country. In practice, however, travelers may need more than one page as there have been instances in the past of South African immigration officers requiring travelers to have two (2) blank pages. You are advised to have at least two blank pages; one for the South African temporary residence permit sticker that is issued upon entry to the country, and an additional page to allow for entry and exit stamps for South Africa and other countries to be visited en route to South Africa or elsewhere in the region.

Travelers without the requisite blank visa pages in their passports may be refused entry into South Africa, fined, and returned to their point of origin at their own expense. South African authorities have denied diplomatic missions access to assist in these cases.

When I traveled there I was advised to have two consecutive blank pages.

My friend had actually read this and knew he needed blank pages - he just didn't realize that there were different kinds of blank pages. Sorry, but this just seems like harassment to me. I just don't see the point.

My friend had actually read this and knew he needed blank pages - he just didn't realize that there were different kinds of blank pages. Sorry, but this just seems like harassment to me. I just don't see the point.

I think the instructions are pretty clear in Timatic (http://www.timaticweb.com/cgi-bin/tim_client.cgi?ExpertMode=TIDFT/ZA/PA/WA/ID43000&user=DL&subuser=DELTAB2C) actually.

Passports and passport replacing documents of all non-South
African nationals must contain at least 1 unused visa page

for entry/departure endorsements by South African
Immigration Service. Please note that this does not include

the page reserved for Observations or Amendments and

Endorsements".

Your gripe should be with the US State Department for designating so many pages of the US passport as something other than "Visa" pages, not with South Africa for simply following the ICAO standards that all countries have agreed to.

My friend had actually read this and knew he needed blank pages - he just didn't realize that there were different kinds of blank pages. Sorry, but this just seems like harassment to me. I just don't see the point.

I am not intimately familiar with US passports per se, but the point is that governments, when they design passports, designate certain pages as for their (issuing government's) own use (e.g. renewals, annotations, etc). Foreign authorities (in this case RSA) are not allowed/supposed to use those pages. There are specific pages marked VISAS that are to be used for travel (visas, entry/exit stamps etc).

This is an unfortunate incident, a misunderstanding at best, certainly not harassment.

So next year we will be flying SYD-JNB.We will be cruising from CPT then flying back from Ghana.Then safari in Botswana and back to JNB to fly home.So there will be 3 separate entries to South Africa over 6 weeks.Do we need to have 3 or more visa pages for this trip?

What's the temporary residence permit sticker? I just got stamped in and out.

Stamps have changed since the start of this year. They no longer use the little stickers but rather a new larger size entry stamp which they fill in with the purpose and duration of stay.

They no longer use the little stickers.I rather liked the stickers. They could stick new ones on top of old ones, thus saving passport pages.

Johan

So next year we will be flying SYD-JNB.We will be cruising from CPT then flying back from Ghana.Then safari in Botswana and back to JNB to fly home.So there will be 3 separate entries to South Africa over 6 weeks.Do we need to have 3 or more visa pages for this trip?

I would be interested in an answer to this as well. We're headed to S.A. in June, and I already had to get my wife a new passport because she didn't have the blank pages (during a technology changeover, the USA passport agency ignored her request for the "extra pages" passport the last time she applied, so it was inevitable that she would run out of pages eventually). But one of my kids is down to only 3 blank "visa" pages. The first time we enter S.A., we're immediately taking a flight to Zambia (Livingstone, Victoria Falls) No need for a "visa" in S.A. that day, right? But the Zambians are probably going to put something in his passport. As will Zimbabwe (other side of Victoria Falls). Then we head back to S.A. I don't want him to be denied entry because of visa page nonsense.

I would be interested in an answer to this as well. We're headed to S.A. in June, and I already had to get my wife a new passport because she didn't have the blank pages (during a technology changeover, the USA passport agency ignored her request for the "extra pages" passport the last time she applied, so it was inevitable that she would run out of pages eventually). But one of my kids is down to only 3 blank "visa" pages. The first time we enter S.A., we're immediately taking a flight to Zambia (Livingstone, Victoria Falls) No need for a "visa" in S.A. that day, right? But the Zambians are probably going to put something in his passport. As will Zimbabwe (other side of Victoria Falls). Then we head back to S.A. I don't want him to be denied entry because of visa page nonsense.

We just did multiple entries to SA. We were aware of the warning and had extra pages added to our passports ahead of the trip. SA passport control stamped the same page every time we entered and exited, so in the end the extra pages were unnecessary.

A tip on the flight from JNB to LIV: get a seat up front. The BA and SAA flights arrive within 15 minutes of each other and immigration (2 officers) can become a real snafu. Also, if you plan to go to Zimbabwe buy a double entry visa on arrival ($80).

We just did multiple entries to SA. We were aware of the warning and had extra pages added to our passports ahead of the trip. SA passport control stamped the same page every time we entered and exited, so in the end the extra pages were unnecessary.

A tip on the flight from JNB to LIV: get a seat up front. The BA and SAA flights arrive within 15 minutes of each other and immigration (2 officers) can become a real snafu. Also, if you plan to go to Zimbabwe buy a double entry visa on arrival ($80).

Thanks for the tips. I'm going to bet that 3 blank pages will be enough. I'm suffering from "bureaucratic travel fatique" (things like being required to get yellow fever vaccination when there's no yellow fever risk) so I'm not inclined to spend even more money on nonsense if I don't need to.

....and I already had to get my wife a new passport because she didn't have the blank pages (during a technology changeover, the USA passport agency ignored her request for the "extra pages" passport the last time she applied.They ignored my "extra pages request" some years ago,
but on receipt I wen't back to the Post Office
(this is some years ago ago!)
... they took it back and re-issued a 48-pager without further charge.

But it was annoying enough, the next time I applied
I attached on top a full page in huge font saying
48-PAGE PASSPORT requested,
and it seemed to work. :D

They ignored my "extra pages request" some years ago,
but on receipt I wen't back to the Post Office
(this is some years ago ago!)
... they took it back and re-issued a 48-pager without further charge.

But it was annoying enough, the next time I applied
I attached on top a full page in huge font saying
48-PAGE PASSPORT requested,
and it seemed to work. :D

Yeah, there's even a thread about this somewhere on flyertalk. When my wife's "regular" passport came, we were annoyed but figured we'd fix it later -- extra pages were free, so why do it now. The passport was still good. Of course, later, they instantaneously announced that it would be $82 for more pages. Since she now has less than 4 years left, it seemed silly to pay that.

We actually called our Congressman to see if his staff could help us (they once helped get a passport issued a few years ago when they were all backed up). No dice -- the State Dept wouldn't budge. I tried directly as well, and nothing. Other than sue them, I'm not sure what else I could have done! My wife was cheated by our own gov't of 4 years worth of passport services. :)

Of course, later, they instantaneously announced that it would be $82 for more pages.

Well it wasn't instantaneous. They made wide announcements several months in advance. And we had at least two lengthy threads on the subject here on Flyertalk leading up to the change. I, and a number of other Flyertalkers, had 48 more pages added to my passport a few weeks before the $82 charge went into effect.

Off-topic, snarky, and un-civil posts have been deleted; thread has been more precisely titled. Can we stay civil and focused on the topic, please?

Thanks :)

cblaisd
Senior Moderator

People who assume these kinds of things before being sure and travelling - to many countries - may be significantly inconvenienced. It pays to read information relating to governmental regulations and travel carefully, as the burden of being wrong may be quite costly.

In the USA passport there are pages marked "Visas", followed by others as clearly marked "Amendments and endorsemements - Modifications et mentions spéciales - Enmiendas y Anotaciones". South Africa also requires "Passport and/or passport replacing documents must be valid for at least 30 days beyond the period of intended stay." I know of people who have arrived in - and been refused entry to - South Africa for not being in compliance.

It seems you friend made a mistake - it does not seem like harassment at all, though it might be called "pickiness" ;).



My friend had actually read this and knew he needed blank pages - he just didn't realize that there were different kinds of blank pages. Sorry, but this just seems like harassment to me. I just don't see the point.

People who assume these kinds of things before being sure and travelling - to many countries - may be significantly inconvenienced. It pays to read information relating to governmental regulations and travel carefully, as the burden of being wrong may be quite costly.

In the USA passport there are pages marked "Visas", followed by others as clearly marked "Amendments and endorsemements - Modifications et mentions spéciales - Enmiendas y Anotaciones". South Africa also requires "Passport and/or passport replacing documents must be valid for at least 30 days beyond the period of intended stay." I know of people who have arrived in - and been refused entry to - South Africa for not being in compliance.

It seems you friend made a mistake - it does not seem like harassment at all, though it might be called "pickiness" ;).

Agreed - your choice of words is well chosen.

Wanted to post my experience with this policy, in case it's helpful to other people. Unaware of the 1 page free policy, I was traveling to South Africa in April 2012, SFO-FRA-JNB on UA and LH.

I checked in at SFO with United, and got into FRA with no problems. After I got through security in FRA for the terminal where the JNB flight was departing from, I had to go through a passport check with a rent-a-cop employed by Lufthansa. They noticed I didn't have a free blank page, and turned me away. I talked with the Lufthansa employee who supposedly has been in charge of this enforcement for a number of years, and he said getting passengers rejected in JNB is super-costly for Lufthansa, so they can't take a chance with me. He said UA should have caught this at checkin.

This sucked, because I was traveling with someone and it was over the weekend, so I couldn't get new pages added any time soon. My companion got on the flight and I was stuck at FRA.

I called LH to make sure the rest of my itinerary wouldn't be canceled (they had already canceled my FRA-JNB segment), then booked a reward ticket on SA's FRA-JNB the next day. My passport was never checked for free pages in FRA, and the border agents at JNB just stamped over other stamps, not even utilizing my free space on other pages.

Doesn't surprise me, except that it was a rent-a-cop, not an employee.

When I flew to KRT, LH staff were paging through all passports looking for Israeli stamps. LH doesn't mess around!

I believe LH and most other airlines have outsorced the document checks at FRA to a third-party company called Securitas, and those employees aren´t necessarily among the brightest folks in this universe IME.