An Aerial View travel guide

Do you need to apply before you fly?

A growing number of African countries now ask you to apply for entry permission online before you travel, even without a visa. Miss it and you can be turned away at boarding.

Pick your passport and where you're going to see exactly what you need, with the full list of who gets in visa-free, who gets a visa on arrival and who must apply first.

Needs one

Seychelles

Compulsory for everyone

Needs nothing

Rwanda

No visa for any African passport

Your passport

Where you're going

Choose your passport to see your own answer, or read the rules for every passport below.

Entering South Africa

What each African passport needs.

No visa
up to 90 days · 13 countries
Angola, Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Namibia, São Tomé and Príncipe, Seychelles, Tanzania, Tunisia, Zambia, Zimbabwe
No visa
up to 30 days · 7 countries
Benin, Cabo Verde, Eswatini, Gabon, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique
Apply online first
16 countries
Algeria, Cameroon, Comoros, Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, DR Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Uganda
You need a visa, and you can apply online or at an embassy.
Embassy visa first
17 countries
All others: Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Guinea-Bissau, Libya, Mauritania, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, The Gambia, Togo
Get a visa from a South African embassy, or the visa application office it uses in your country, before you travel.

Good to know

You may read about South Africa's new ETA, an online travel permission costing R500. Right now it is only compulsory for citizens of China, India, Indonesia and Mexico, not for any African country.

Lists from Visa policy of South Africa, checked 2026-10-13. Covers ordinary passports only.

Rules change often

Join Aerial View and we'll tell you when entry rules change, along with new trips and travel guides.

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All 54 countries we cover

This page is a starting point for planning, not legal or immigration advice. Always confirm with the destination country or your airline before you travel.

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