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South Africa has relaxed visa rules for Nigeria to facilitate travel for business people and tourists.

Among the visa reforms, Cyril Ramaphosa, South African president, said that Nigerian tourists can now apply to visit South Africa without submitting their passports.

In addition to this, South Africa is offering five-year multiple-entry visas for qualifying Nigerian business people.

Ramaphosa said these reforms reflect South Africa’s commitment to fostering a better business environment by removing constraints to investments and addressing challenges faced by companies in both countries.

Before the reforms, Nigerians had often missed trips and engagements in other countries because their passports were stuck at the South African embassy. The new development would mean that applicants can travel to other countries while waiting for their South African visa processing.

The multiple-entry visas mean that a Nigerian traveller can enter and exit South Africa multiple times within a specified period of time. This visa type is a popular choice for frequent travellers because it’s more flexible than a single-entry visa, which requires reapplying for a new visa each time a traveller wishes to visit.

Before now, some Nigerians who applied for South African visas lamented that they were denied visas by the country’s mission even after they had met the requirements. The applicants denied visas included students, investors and tourists.

Against the stipulated wait time of 10 to 15 days, applicants have had to wait for over one month to get back their passports, many of whom were eventually denied visas.

In 2022, Air Peace suspended flight operations to Johannesburg, South Africa, citing delays in visa approvals.

The airline however resumed flight operations into the route but reduced aircraft capacity by downsizing from Boeing 777 aircraft with over 300 seat capacity to Embraer E195 which has 124 seating capacity.

BusinessDay’s findings show that the reduction in seat capacity by Air Peace was connected to the frequent visa denials.

Before COVID-19, South African Airways had operated fully booked daily flights to South Africa on its Airbus 333 aircraft, (238 seat capacity), but the situation changed as the airline operates four weekly flights from Nigeria to South Africa, with not up to a 60 percent load factor.

During this period, Nigerians’ applications for South African visas reduced owing to delays and denials, according to travel agents.

The development then contributed to the rise in travels to Rwanda and Kenya from Nigeria.

With the new reforms, travel experts say they hope to see more flight frequencies as more passengers would be issued visas.

“If the visa reforms become effective, we expect to see good flight frequency. Some Nigerian airlines have gone on this route before and had to pull out. Some of them were Virgin Nigeria, Arik Air and at some point, Air Peace,” Olumide Ohunayo, industry analyst and director of research at Zenith Travels, told BusinessDay.

Ohunayo said South Africa’s new travel reforms would boost tourism and travel.

He envisaged that the airlines would participate and there could be more tourists from Nigeria and South Africa.

“Again, flights to Australia and New Zealand will become cheaper and faster. So it is a good one if it works well,” Ohunayo added.

Seyi Adewale, chief executive officer of Mainstream Cargo Limited, told BusinessDay that the new visa reforms would see Nigeria and South Africa cooperate and collaborate in trade.

“Secondly, South Africa has seen the need to allow fairer opportunities for Nigerians to do business within its borders and potentially may be targeting a certain type of need,” Adewale said.

He also said the reforms may tame the resistance and xenophobic attitudes or attacks on Nigerian citizens and avoid future reciprocity.

Requirements for entering South Africa include: a valid and acceptable passport or travel document for the intended stay, at least one blank page in the passport for endorsement, a valid visa, if required, sufficient funds to pay for applicant’s day-to-day expenses during his or her stay, a return or onward ticket, a yellow fever certificate if applicant’s journey starts or entails passing through the yellow fever belt of Africa or South America.