The 99 Countries South Africans Can Visit Visa-Free

The strength of the South African passport has declined from 102 in 2018 to 99 in 2019 in terms of the number of countries South Africans are allowed to visit. This is according to the latest report by Henley Passport Index, a global measure of the access given by a country’s passport.

The report ranked South Africa in 54th place on the ranking down from 51 after Djibouti’s policy changed from visa-on-arrival to an e-visa system. Below are countries South African citizens can visit visa-free:

Africa: Angola, Madagascar, Kenya, Zambia, Ghana, St. Helena, Benin, Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Swaziland, Botswana, Mauritania, Tanzania, Cape Verde Islands, Mauritius, Togo, Comores Islands, Mozambique, Tunisia, Ethiopia, Namibia, Uganda, Gabon, Reunion, Guinea-Bissau, Senegal, Seychelles, Lesotho and Somalia.

Europe: Ireland, Kosovo, and Russia.

Asia: Cambodia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong, Maldives, Tajikistan, Indonesia, Nepal, Thailand, Kyrgyzstan, Philippines, Timor-Leste, Laos, Singapore, Macao, and South Korea.

Caribbean: Antigua and Barbuda, Dominican Republic, St. Lucia, Bahamas, Grenada St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Barbados, Haiti Trinidad and Tobago, British Virgin Islands, Jamaica Turks and Caicos, Cayman Islands. Montserrat, Dominica, and St. Kitts and Nevis

Oceania / Australia: Cook Islands, Micronesia, Samoa, Fiji, Niue, Tuvalu, Marshall Islands, Palau Islands, and Vanuatu.

America: Chile, Guyana, Uruguay, Costa Rica, Honduras and Venezuela,Argentina, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Belize, El Salvador Panama, Bolivia, Falkland Islands, Paraguay, Brazil, Guatemala, and Peru.

Middle East / Others: Armenia, Israel, Qatar, Georgia, Jordan, Iran, and Palestinian Territory.

Seychelles continues to retain its top place in Sub-Sahara Africa with a visa-free score of 150. The country has been ranked position 27th globally. Mauritania also maintained its second place while South Africa came third with 145 and 99 scores respectively.

In the region, Somalia came last with access to only 31 destinations visa-free.

With a visa-free score of 189, Japan and Singapore were ranked the first globally. South Korea ,Finland and Germany came in second place on the index. Natives of these three countries have access to 187 countries around the world visa-free.

Notably, in most of the index’s history, UK has held one of the top five positions in the ranking but the report has indicated that with the Brexit issue that is now imminent, the country’s passport power may decline.

The UK has long since been a popular travel destination for most South Africans. Reportedly, it is the most searched for destination by South Africans.

Featured Image Courtesy: Matador Network