Visa-Free Countries for South African citizens (2026)
A South African passport enters 68 countries visa-free, gets a visa on arrival in 25 more, and an eTA in 4 — 97 of 198 destinations you can reach without arranging a visa before you go. 34 need an e-visa applied for online, and 67 need a consular visa. As of 20 July 2026.
- 68
- VISA-FREE
- 4
- ETA
- 25
- VISA ON ARRIVAL
- 34
- E-VISA
- 67
- VISA REQUIRED
Counts are for a standard tourist passport, from our open visa-matrix dataset, which cross-checks Wikipedia against a second source and records every disagreement rather than picking one silently. This is a starting point, not legal advice — a rule can change between snapshots, so confirm the current requirement with the destination's official source before you book. Rows marked ⚑ disputed are corridors where our two sources disagree; treat those as "verify first".
Visa-free 68
Walk up to the border with just your passport. No form, no fee, no advance step.
- Angola90d
- Antigua and Barbuda180d
- Argentina90d
- Bahamas90d
- Barbados180d
- Belarus3d⚑
- Belize
- Benin90d
- Bolivia90d
- Botswana90d
- Brazil90d
- Chile90d
- Costa Rica90d
- Dominica180d
- Dominican Republic90d
- Ecuador90d
- El Salvador90d
- Eswatini30d
- Fiji120d
- Gabon30d
- Gambia90d
- Georgia365d
- Ghana90d
- Grenada90d
- Guatemala90d
- Guyana90d
- Haiti90d
- Honduras90d
- Hong Kong30d
- Iran⚑
- Jamaica
- Kazakhstan⚑
- Kenya90d
- Kiribati90d
- Kosovo90d⚑
- Lesotho90d
- Macao30d
- Malawi90d
- Malaysia90d
- Mauritius180d
- Micronesia30d
- Mozambique90d
- Namibia90d
- Nicaragua90d
- Norway⚑
- Oman14d⚑
- Palestine
- Panama90d
- Paraguay90d
- Peru90d
- Philippines30d
- Qatar30d⚑
- Russia90d
- Rwanda30d
- Saint Lucia42d
- Saint Vincent and the Grenadines90d
- Seychelles90d
- Singapore30d
- Tanzania90d
- Thailand60d
- Trinidad and Tobago90d
- Tunisia90d
- Uruguay90d
- Vanuatu120d
- Venezuela90d
- Vietnam30d⚑
- Zambia90d
- Zimbabwe90d
Electronic authorisation (eTA) 4
Visa-free in practice, but you must register an eTA online before you fly. Minutes, not weeks.
- Israel90d
- Saint Kitts and Nevis90d
- South Korea30d
- Sri Lanka30d⚑
Visa on arrival 25
Nothing to arrange in advance — the visa is issued at the border, usually for a fee.
- Armenia120d
- Bahrain14d⚑
- Burundi30d
- Cabo Verde30d
- Cambodia30d
- Comoros45d
- East Timor30d
- Egypt30d
- Ethiopia90d
- Guinea-Bissau90d
- Indonesia30d
- Jordan30d
- Kyrgyzstan60d
- Laos30d
- Madagascar90d
- Maldives30d
- Marshall Islands90d
- Nepal90d
- Palau30d
- Samoa90d
- Saudi Arabia90d
- Senegal30d
- Sierra Leone30d
- Tajikistan60d
- Tuvalu30d
E-visa (apply online first) 34
You must apply and be approved online before departure. Not a border formality.
- Afghanistan30d⚑
- Albania90d
- Azerbaijan30d
- Bhutan90d
- Burkina Faso
- Burma28d
- Cameroon
- Chad
- Colombia
- Cuba90d
- Djibouti90d⚑
- DR Congo7d
- Equatorial Guinea
- Guinea90d
- India30d
- Iraq30d
- Ivory Coast90d⚑
- Japan90d
- Libya
- Mauritania30d
- Mongolia30d
- Nigeria30d
- Pakistan90d
- Papua New Guinea30d⚑
- Sao Tome and Principe
- Serbia90d⚑
- Somalia30d
- South Sudan
- Suriname
- Syria
- Togo15d
- Turkey30d
- Uganda90d
- Ukraine30d
Visa required 67
A consular visa is needed before travel — start early.
- Algeria
- Andorra
- Australia⚑
- Austria
- Bangladesh
- Belgium
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Brunei
- Bulgaria
- Canada
- Central African Republic
- China
- Congo
- Croatia
- Cyprus
- Czechia
- Denmark
- Eritrea
- Estonia
- Finland
- France
- Germany
- Greece
- Hungary
- Iceland
- Ireland
- Italy
- Kuwait
- Latvia
- Lebanon
- Liberia
- Liechtenstein
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Macedonia
- Mali
- Malta
- Mexico
- Moldova⚑
- Monaco
- Montenegro
- Morocco
- Nauru
- Netherlands
- New Zealand
- Niger
- North Korea
- Poland
- Portugal
- Romania
- San Marino
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- Solomon Islands
- Spain
- Sudan
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Taiwan
- Tonga
- Turkmenistan
- United Arab Emirates⚑
- United Kingdom
- United States
- Uzbekistan
- Vatican
- Yemen