Digital visa boost for South Africa

The Department of Home Affairs has launched its Trusted Tour Operator Scheme (TTOS) digital portal, which its software development team built in-house.

Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber announced this on Tuesday during Parliament’s debate of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Address.

“Through this portal, vetted tour operators will immediately be able to submit group visa applications to bring many more tourists from India and China to visit beautiful South Africa,” Schreiber said.

“Importantly, this new system was built in-house by harnessing the talent of the young people on Home Affairs’ software development team.”

The platform came online at 08h00 on Wednesday morning and is open to tour operators to apply for approval and for those already approved to submit group visa applications for their clients.

The scheme aims to make applying to visit South Africa more convenient for Indian and Chinese citizens travelling in groups by enabling vetted tour operators to submit group applications for large tour groups.

“This addresses a long-standing obstacle to tourism growth, where long queues, red tape and the inability to process group applications timeously led to inefficiency in the issuing of visas for tourists from these countries,” Home Affairs said.

The Department said that prior to the launch of the digital platform, only two missions existed in each country to serve the combined 2.8 billion people.

However, now that the TTOS system is online, Home Affairs said tourists travelling with approved tour operators will receive their digital visas within three days without visiting a mission, standing in a queue, or filling out a form.

Following Ramaphosa’s address, Schreiber said the first phase of South Africa’s digital identity system will be built over the next 12 months.

“As the custodian of all identity, civics, and immigration services, Home Affairs is the linchpin for the digital transformation of government,” said Schreiber.

“Our five-year vision to deliver Home Affairs @ home, as announced in September last year, is built entirely around the digitalisation and automation of all services and processes in alignment with the President’s announcement.”

He said this would include launching a modern Electronic Travel Authorisation system to automate tourist and short-stay visas.

Digitising the Department

Schreiber also said modernising processes at the Department of Home Affairs would help eliminate identity fraud and enable South Africans to access its services without having to visit a Home Affairs branch.

According to Smile ID’s 2025 Digital Identity Fraud in Africa report, South Africa’s green ID book is far more susceptible to fraud than the smart ID card.

“In South Africa, the transition from traditional Green Book IDs to Smart ID cards is gaining momentum, with the latter offering enhanced security features to combat identity fraud,” Smile ID said.

“While progress is underway, the report’s findings emphasise accelerating digital ID adoption to mitigate vulnerabilities.”

Schreiber agrees. He previously said that his Department can only eliminate the opportunity to commit identity fraud by moving away from manual, paper-based processes that require human intervention.

However, doing so would also pave the way for a fully digital Department of Home Affairs and enable citizens to access its services from their homes.

Establishing a digital identity system is central to this, with Schreiber alluding to such a system in his initial announcement about Home Affairs @ Home.

He explained that the Department plans to build an end-to-end digital platform to handle all applications, adjudications, and communications between South Africans and Home Affairs.

If done right, this will eliminate the need for in-person visits to Home Affairs premises. It will also enhance the work environment for staff, enabling them to focus on more productive and exciting tasks.