So many South Africans flooded into one country that it had to take away visa-free access

Ireland ended visa-free access for South Africans in 2024, but is now being swamped by visa applications, which it can’t keep up with. 

In July 2024, Ireland declared that nationals from Botswana and South Africa would have to apply for a visa to travel to the country. 

The visa requirement also extended to transit visas, where South Africans intending to transit through Ireland en route to another destination would have to apply.

Although South Africans can travel to over 100 countries without a visa, Ireland was one of the few European countries where travellers did not require pre-approval.

The move to require visas came despite relatively strong ties between the countries.

Notably, Ireland is among several Western European countries looking for South Africans to fill skill shortages.

South Africa also has many trade and business interests in Ireland, with many local companies having operations there or seeing the country as having promising prospects for growth.

At the time of the announcement, the country flagged several reasons for the move, including a rise in fake South African passports being used, alignment with the UK travel region, and an influx of travellers declaring international protection.

The most pressing issue was serious concerns around the safety and security of the South African passport, with travellers caught using forged or fake documents.

This was a huge issue between 2022 and 2024, where several cases of Pakistani or Indian nationals were caught travelling on fake South African passports. This prompted a strong local response as well.

In 2022, Irish airline Ryanair imposed a controversial test in Afrikaans to identify passengers using fake South African passports.

While Ireland did not sanction this and Ryanair quickly dropped it, security issues around the South African passport persisted.

Another major issue that was flagged by local authorities was a rise in South African travellers who would claim International Protection after arriving.

Speaking to the Mail and Guardian, Ireland’s Minister of State for International Development and Diaspora, Neale Richmond, said the decision to impose visas on South Africans in 2024 was harsh, but necessary.

He said there had been a 100% increase in people entering Ireland from South Africa and Nigeria (but mostly South Africa) claiming international protected status, raising questions over its visa regime.

Ireland had also seen an influx of immigrants post-COVID-19, while lacking the resources to process the incoming people as quickly as they arrived.

Irish ambassador Austin Gormley previously noted at the time that a key reason for Ireland imposing visas on South Africa was that the United Kingdom did the same.

Ireland and the United Kingdom share the common travel area, a special arrangement between the UK and Ireland allowing free movement and residence between the jurisdictions.

Irish citizens can thus live and work in the United Kingdom, even though England left the European Union.

Big problems emerging

When the visa requirement was announced, former Justice Minister Helen McEntee said that a Dublin Visa Office had established a dedicated ‘South Africa desk’ to process applications from South African nationals.

Three Visa Application Centres (VACs), located throughout South Africa, with visa service provider VFS Global, were also established.

However, the system has faced serious issues since its implementation, with the number of visa applications swamping the Irish government.

Since the change, Irish authorities are now finding it difficult to keep up with the sheer number of South African visa applications that need to be processed.

Although applications should take three months to process, many are waiting far longer. This has led to South Africans having to cancel their trips for both pleasure and business.

According to Richmond, the country has had to double its resources to handle the influx. By doing so, it hopes to cut processing times down to four to six weeks, from 12 to 16 weeks before.

For travellers on business or using a work permit, he said that the systems will be merged to accellerate the process.