South Africa travel advice
A summary of the UK government’s (FCDO) travel advice for South Africa, last updated by the FCDO on 8 July 2026. The full advice on GOV.UK is the authoritative version.
FCDO status
No areas listed where FCDO advises against travel
The FCDO’s alert status for South Africa names no areas where it advises against travel. The FCDO says no travel can be guaranteed safe. Read the full advice.
Latest FCDO update (8 July 2026): New information about submitting an online traveller declaration before travelling and information about taking money into South Africa ('Entry requirements' page).
Passport validity
Your passport must have an ‘expiry date’ at least 30 days after the date you leave South Africa and have at least 2 blank pages.
From FCDO: entry requirements. Written for British passport holders.
Recent FCDO updates
- 8 July 2026: New information about submitting an online traveller declaration before travelling and information about taking money into South Africa ('Entry requirements' page).
- 24 June 2026: New information about increased risk of protests and possible travel disruptions on and around 30 June 2026 (see ‘Political situation’ on 'Safety and security' page).
- 11 June 2026: New information about e-hailing and taxis and updated information about political situation, crime locations and Kruger National Park ('Safety and security' page).
Plan your trip
This page shows the FCDO’s headline status and quotes its text word for word; we don’t reword safety advice. It refreshes automatically, so it can lag GOV.UK by up to a day. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: FCDO foreign travel advice on GOV.UK. FCDO advice is written for British nationals; other nationalities should also check their own government’s advice.