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Part 2 -- Immigration and travel requirements
Before a person can legally travel to another country, certain formalities must be observed. Compliance with any country's immigration "red tape" requirements is critical -- these officials take themselves very seriously and have certain powers -- they can (and do) simply refuse to let you into the country. And they can force the airline responsible for transporting you to the border to return you to the country of origin. In our experience, these are not people to be messed with because they can make your life instantly miserable. For Americans intending to enter South Africa, a passport is necessary, but the prior obtaining of a visa is not. From our Internet and guidebook readings, it was also our understanding that South Africa was quite strict about certain other requirements. The problem comes in understanding exactly what is required, and how strictly these rules are enforced. To gain insight on this subject, we consulted all the sources we could think of -- travel agents, official websites, airlines, guidebooks, and this newsgroup. In so doing, we found some odd (to us) things. For instance, we learned that visitors are routinely turned back at the South African Immigration desk upon arrival if they do not have two fully blank visa pages in their passports. If we met that requirement, we were told that we would be issued a temporary visa that would expire on the date shown on our return trip airline ticket. If one didn't have a return ticket, the traveler would be required to post a cash bond to insure the ability to leave the country, plus show sufficient funds to pay for the visit within South Africa. In fact, all but the blank-page requirement was ignored when we arrived in South Africa. We were issued 90-day temporary resident permits and no one asked to see either airline tickets or proof available funds. This was correctly predicted by people in this group. At the American Express Travel center here in Phoenix, we were also told (by the senior travel counselor) that the surname on the airline ticket must match the name on the passport -- a past problem with people whose married name did not match their pre-marriage surname shown on their passport (which is obtained from birth records). We were also informed that first name nicknames were not to be used, but that initials *were* acceptable (this later became a major issue, and was a subject of my first post to this group). And that is the subject of the next part in this series... |
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