Visas and Visitor's Permits to South Africa

 

Canada or US passport holders who are visiting only and staying less than 90 day are not required to obtain a visa prior to travel. They will be issued a visitor’s permit upon arrival and screening provided the following conditions are met.

 

• Visitors must have valid passport which will not expire within 6 months of your departure
• Passport must contain at least two empty pages for your permit and endorsements

 

Those with passports other than US and Canada and anyone who thinks they may have special circumstances should check South Africa Tourist information for visa requirements. Please take the time to check you passports now to be sure that you have at a minimum, two sheets (a front & a back) of paper in your passport that is blank for the South African government to attach your visa and the same for every country you plan to visit on this trip or any other country you will be visiting before your trip to South Africa.

 

Authorities are very strict on this and they will deny you entry and put you right back on the plane! The US Passport Agency will add pages to your passport for free (plus shipping costs). The service is pretty fast, but they do get bogged down at times, so if you are running short of pages send it in now and avoid future panics.

 

Visa and entry/exit fees are usually added to the price of your airline ticket (under “taxes”). If they are not most countries require payment in cash in local currency.

Consider Purchasing Insurance

 

 

 

 

 

 

Travelers need to think about having several types of insurance:

 

-Trip Cancellation Insurance to over the costs of lost deposits should you have to cancel

 

-Medical insurance to cover costs your US based insurance does not cover

 

-Insurance to cover expensive equipment if it is lost, damaged, or stolen

 

 

Trip Cancellation Insurance will reimburse your deposits and trip costs if you have to cancel, delay, or interrupt your trip. Death in the family, illness of yourself or relative, or a car accident occurring right before a trip departure are some of the cancellation reasons that you should look for to be covered by the policy. These policies also cover lost luggage and replacement since airline policies do not usually cover the full cost of your lost luggage.

 

 

Travel Health Insurance is sometimes bundled with trip cancellation policies. Many US based medical plans will not cover all of the costs of care outside of the US so it is best to understand your individual plan. South Africa has modern medical facilities and socialized medical coverage for its citizens. The care is excellent and most likely more affordable than care in the US. A travel health policy will let you choose how much you are willing to pay out of pocket and will let you choose between options to cover costs of hospitalization, flying a relative over to care for your, evacuation to a major medical center, and more.

 

Insurance for your photography equipment is important since most airline, travel insurance policies, and home owner’s policies will have a dollar limit per single item in the range of only $1,000 - $2,000. Look into specialty third party insurance for you most expensive items or make sure they are specifically listed and covered for their full value on your existing policies.