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South Africa might introduce a universal African visa for visitors attending FIFA’s World Cup in Johannesburg next year, according to Bua News. The visa, however, will require the approval of other African nations. Assuming enough support can be garnered, visa holders could travel to other participating African states during their visit to South Africa.

South Africa previously created an “events visa,” which was specifically introduced to ease the way for soccer fans planning to visit the country for the event. 

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South Africa’s Department of Home Affairs is launching its first “events visa” in order to ease the way for soccer fans planning to visit the country for the 2010 World Cup. As reported by The Sunday Independent, the events visa relies upon a biometric verification technology for controlling travelers’ movements.

This special visa is part of an array of services that will enable South Africa to more effectively track the movement of World Cup spectators through the country’s 72 ports of entry. The nation’s Home Affairs Minister commented: “To contribute to the smooth but secure flow of tens of thousands of international visitors expected to attend the 2010 World Cup tournament, our immigration services . . . will improve traveler screening and use mechanisms that will prevent the entry of undesirable elements. Part of the arsenal for this will be travel document readers, airline liaison officers and the events visa . . . and gathering of intelligence through closer cooperation with other law enforcement agencies, both foreign and domestic.”
 

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The UK Border Agency has announced that passport holders from South Africa, Swaziland, Lesotho, Bolivia and Venezuela who are registered on the Iris Recognition Immigration System (IRIS) will need to re-enroll in order to continue using the IRIS facility. IRIS is a means of border control allowing registered travelers to enter the United Kingdom through automated barriers at certain airports, where a registered person’s identity is confirmed by simply looking into a special camera.

Additional information about the re-enrollment requirement, and about IRIS generally, is available on the IRIS section of the Border Agency’s website.
 

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The United Kingdom's government has announced the start dates for new short stay visitor visa requirements for nationals of Bolivia, Lesotho, South Africa, Swaziland and Venezuela. Under the new requirements, nationals of these countries wishing to visit the UK for up to six months, will need to obtain a visit visa, and provide their fingerprints before they travel. Travelers from these countries who transit through the UK en route to other countries also will need a transit visa.

Start dates for the new visa requirements are:

• May 18, 2009 for Bolivian and Venezuelan nationals. Venezuelan nationals holding valid biometric passports containing an electronic chip will be exempt from the visa requirement.
• July 1, 2009 for nationals of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland.

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The United Kingdom’s Home Office announced the introduction of new visa checks for Bolivia, Lesotho, South Africa, Swaziland and Venezuela after they failed to pass Britain’s strict new visa waiver test. This measure is just one of many the government has enacted to further tighten border security. The visa waiver test reviewed all non-European countries and regions to evaluate the risk their citizens might pose, in terms of illegal immigration, crime and security, by not having to apply for a visa before entering the UK.

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