The new Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) of South Africa has moved on to its following chapter. Two major changes have arrived barely a week after President Cyril Ramaphosa formally unveiled the system at OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg: visitors now pay a processing fee to utilize it, and the platform appears to be quietly welcoming nationalities well outside the four nations that took part in the original pilot.
An official new charge takes effect
Anyone applying through the ETA system as of August 17, 2026, must pay a 500 rand (about $30) processing charge. This is currently included into South African immigration legislation; it is not a proposal or a rumor. On the same day, under Government Notice R.7834 in Gazette No. 55209, the Department of Home Affairs released the completed fee schedule in the Government Gazette.
The language changed between the draft and final versions of the law, which is remarkable. The draft description in late July defined the charge as a general electronic processing charge possibly applicable to a variety of online submitted visa and permission applications. The approved notice greatly limits that wording, tying the 500 rand cost directly to the ETA itself. For visitors who also need a visa, this charge pays for the electronic processing stage; any independent visa fee would be applied in addition to it.
Beyond the Four Pilot Nations
The ETA was first developed based on a limited testing group comprised of candidates from Mexico, China, India, and Indonesia. However, officials were clear from the beginning that this was just phase one. The Department of Home Affairs has always claimed that the plan was to increase access once the system showed to be reliable, finally transforming the ETA into the default digital entry point for tourist visas across a much wider spectrum of countries.
That change seems to be taking place right now. The official site, eta.dha.gov.za, now has a language that reflects a more extensive scope. It now states that the ETA is open to visitors from qualified, visa-required countries who wish to travel for tourism or other short visits without undergoing a conventional visa application process. Notably, the portal also now says that visitors who are normally exempt from visas can elect to apply for an ETA anyway, mostly to accelerate border processing.
Trial Time
Rather than accepting the phrasing of the portal at face value, our crew ran a live application with a French passport. France was a great testing case for whether the increased access was genuine or merely aspirational language, since its citizens could already enter South Africa without a visa for stays up to 90 days.
The application ran without any issues. The entire process, including paying the new 500 rand charge, happened online. The Department of Home Affairs sent a confirmation email for both the payment and the submission. The outcome arrived some half an hour later: accepted. Directly from the applicant’s account, the ETA was downloadable, valid for several entries until August 2027, with a reminder that visitors must still submit an online travel declaration prior to their flight.
This verifies that the system is free from the first four nations. Along with other nationalities already granted visa-free entry, including much of Europe, the United States, Australia, and Japan, French citizens can choose voluntarily for the ETA procedure. It’s important to remember that this is still voluntary for them; their current right to enter without a visa has not vanished.
Not Everyone Is In Yet
Things are different for countries who really need a visa to enter South Africa. One parallel test utilizing a passport from such a nation hit a barrier; the application just could not advance, as the site returned a message stating that program participation criteria had not been satisfied.
That fits what politicians have been saying for months. In May, Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber stated that the technical groundwork for expanding the ETA was ongoing, and as recently as July, he was still describing the system as limited to the original pilot countries while a broader rollout was in the works.
Airports: What’s Next?
Geographical accessibility is still constrained as well. Our testing revealed just three airports designated as valid ETA entrance points: OR Tambo International in Johannesburg, Cape Town International, and Lanseria International close to Johannesburg. Although it was revealed as a future addition, King Shaka International in Durban was not yet in use in the system.
These results taken together show a rollout that is clearly underway. The fee is set, visa-exempt tourists may practically enter, and the door is opening, though not totally and not for everyone at once. As the Department of Home Affairs processes this change, anyone considering a trip to South Africa in the next months should anticipate the eligibility criteria and entry locations changing regularly.