Africans face difficulties gaining South African visas for World Cup

January 15 2010 by Liam Clifford

South African visa issues raise concerns for travellers from Africa.

Anyone travelling from the UK to South Africa for the World Cup this summer will not need a South African visa to do so. However, the same cannot being said for fellow Africans who wish to watch the matches in South Africa. They need South Africa visas and many are likely to face problems obtaining them.

In order to gain a visa for the football games, people have to be able to show their hotel bookings and prove they have enough money to cover their costs while they are in the country. However, many Africans lack the funds to do this and simply want to spend a few weeks living in South Africa, maybe sleeping on a relative’s sofa, in order to watch their team play some matches.

Although most fully intend to return home after the tournament, South African immigration is demanding that they leave a large sum of money in US dollars as a deposit at their South African embassies to guarantee they will not continue to live in South Africa illegally.

In addition to these immigration concerns, the system of booking tickets online is seen as too complicated for some Africans who are not used to these kinds of systems. FIFA now says it will look into simplifying the process for Africans who may wish to come to the tournament.

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