Is there a digital nomad visa for South Africa?
At the moment, there is no digital nomad visa available to work and travel in South Africa. Recently, the government of South Africa, to support South Africa’s tourism industry announced that they will soon revise their work visa to allow people working remotely to come and stay easily in South Africa.
It is rare to find countries that offer remote work visas. In general, when they do, digital nomad visas are meant to attract investors, retired people, or people who wish to settle in the country for a long time.
What the government announced sounded much more like what most digital nomads are hoping for.
The visa will allow remote workers to visit South Africa while working for a company not based in South Africa.
Some information about the fees, the conditions, and the requirements have been published, but for now, we don’t know what they will be.
In this article, we listed all the countries that actually offer a digital nomad visa.
What visa can you apply for at the moment?
US citizens can go to the Republic of South Africa without any visa if they intend to stay less than 90 days.
For non-US citizens, there is a list of countries exempted from visa applications that can be found here.
In order to stay more than 90 days in South Africa, a Temporary Residence Visa is required.
South African’s Temporary Residence Visas
There are several types of Temporary Residence Visas to stay more than 90 days in South Africa. Only one of them can be used by digital nomads that intend to stay for a long period of time in the country, the business visa.
Business Visa
The South African Business Visa is a permit granted to people who have the intention to create a business or invest in South Africa.
Depending on the type of business you will create in South Africa a certain minimum amount of capital invested will be required.
As you will find out here, there is a long list of documents required that will need to be processed.
The processing of the visa may take around 4 weeks.
What South African Visa Most Digital Nomads are Using?
It is fair to say that most American digital nomads won’t stay more than 90 days in the country and therefore will simply enter the country without any digital nomad visa, nor any visa of any sort.
While working in South Africa as an employee for a foreign company may be illegal. Running a business remotely from South Africa while on vacation is a bit more in a grey area.