Delegates from China, India, Indonesia and Mexico travelling to Johannesburg for the G20 Heads of State Summit in November will be able to apply for travel visas from the comfort of their own homes using a smartphone.
This is part of a trial of a cutting-edge e-visa system introduced by the government, which it hopes to eventually roll out for visitors from around the world. The AI-powered Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) is a fully automated platform for individual short-stay tourist visas of up to 90 days and will apply to those arriving at major airports like OR Tambo and Cape Town International.
Using rapid biometric verification, the system can issue successful visas within seconds, though the department of home affairs will delay issuance by an hour or two to allow for further security verification of the traveller.
Speaking at the Tourism Leadership Conference in Sun City, where he unveiled how the ETA will operate, home affairs minister Leon Schreiber said in the first phase, the system will go live for delegates from India, China, Indonesia and Mexico travelling to Johannesburg for the G20 Summit.
In the second phase it will be extended to normal travellers from those four countries. Applicants will be able to make payment for e-visas via the system.
In the third phase it will be rolled out to travellers from all countries.
The department of tourism anticipates that once in full operation, the ETA will increase the number of travellers from those four countries alone by 1-million, creating between 80,000 and 100,000 new jobs.
Users will first open an account through their smartphone using their cellphone numbers. The system will generate a unique user profile, making it possible for the user to apply for a visa. Users then upload a picture of themselves and scan their passports.
“You are going to be able to scan your passport in your own house and you are going to give us your face. What we do in this phase is to check, first, that your passport is authentic. We run 40 different checks on your passport to confirm that you are from India and that this is an Indian passport before us. Then we take the photo that’s on your passport and we match it to the selfie that you uploaded,” said Schreiber.
“All of this happens through your phone. You link your phone with a QR code, then you scan your face and you will move on and do the same for your passport. It will give you a thumbs-up when uploaded.”
Schreiber said the plan is for South Africa's identity system to be based on facial recognition and biometric verification. Fake picture and fingerprint uploads will automatically be blocked by the system. Once the traveller has added their contact and other details, they can submit the application.
The system will completely replace human contact in visa applications, eliminating the risk of fraudulent issuance of travel documents or bureaucratic bungles, he said.
“The beauty of this [is] there’s no person that can take this application and put it under a desk. There’s no person that can lose this application.”
The ETA creates a seamless, tamper-proof 24-hour visa application process, he said.
“Your ETA will be in your phone wallet. Your flight ticket to South Africa in your cellphone wallet will be right next to your visa.”
On arrival in South Africa, holders of ETAs will go through special unmanned booths that verify their travel documents and scan their faces to match the document to the correct traveller.
“That’s the final step. If you face matches and you have an ETA, you will walk through. This has the potential to be a genuine service delivery revolution in South Africa.”
Speaking at the same event, tourism minister Patricia De Lille described the ETA as a game changer for the sector.
“It is not just about technology. It is about opportunity, dignity and livelihoods. It is about saying to the world: South Africa is open, welcoming and ready to do business,” she said.
Earlier this year the home affairs department introduced a Trusted Tour Operator Scheme (TTOS), which made it possible for vetted tour operators to submit group visa applications on behalf of tourists from specific high-potential markets, mainly India and China.
Hosted by the Tourism Business Council of SA (TBCSA) at Sun City in the North West, the Tourism Leadership Conference brought together government leaders, policymakers, tourism industry executives, financiers, SMEs and other stakeholders to discuss the sector’s challenges and devise tourism growth strategies.
TimesLIVE
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