{"id":228249,"date":"2018-02-27T18:00:14","date_gmt":"2018-02-27T16:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=228249"},"modified":"2018-02-27T17:17:59","modified_gmt":"2018-02-27T15:17:59","slug":"11-awesome-countries-south-africans-can-visit-visa-free-in-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/lifestyle\/228249\/11-awesome-countries-south-africans-can-visit-visa-free-in-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"11 awesome countries South Africans can visit visa-free in 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"

Arton Capital has released its latest Passport Index<\/a><\/strong>,\u00a0with South Korea<\/span>\u00a0taking the lead with the world’s most powerful passport for the first time.<\/p>\n

The index is used by governments from around the world to monitor the power of their passports – and is largely based on how many countries it grants you access to without a visa.<\/p>\n

South Korea and Singapore now have the world’s most powerful passport with a score of 162, followed by Germany and Japan (161 countries), then Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Italy, France, and Spain with a score of 160 countries.<\/p>\n

“We are currently seeing not one but two Asian countries with the most powerful passports in the world,” said\u00a0Armand Arton,<\/span>\u00a0founder and president of Arton Capital.<\/p>\n

“This is a testament to the increased global respect and trust Asian countries are commanding,” he said.<\/p>\n

While South Africa has one of the strongest passports among African countries, it is ranked 47th on the list with a score of 95 countries open to visa-free travel.<\/p>\n

However, this could change following the re-appointment of Malusi Gigaba as minister of home affairs, following a brief stint as minister of finance.<\/p>\n

Before his appointment to the finance ministry, Gigaba had targeted visa-free travel<\/a><\/strong> for South Africans to the European Union, an initiative which has stalled somewhat in his absence.<\/p>\n

Speaking to the BusinessTech at the end of January 2018, a Home Affairs spokesperson confirmed that visa-free travel to the EU was still on the cards, but that it was currently being decided on a country by country basis, with no time-frame as to when this may be completed.<\/p>\n

Below is a list of the countries South Africans can currently visit visa-free, including 11 popular holiday destinations.<\/p>\n

\n

Bahamas<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Barbados<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Brazil\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Fiji\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Hong Kong<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Indonesia<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Ireland<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Israel<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Mauritius<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

South Korea<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Thailand<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Visa-free entry<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
Angola<\/td>\nGeorgia<\/td>\nMalaysia<\/td>\nSingapore<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Antigua & Barbuda<\/td>\nGrenada<\/td>\nMauritius<\/td>\nSouth Korea<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Argentina<\/td>\nGuatemala<\/td>\nMicronesia<\/td>\nSt Vincent and the Grenadines<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Bahamas<\/td>\nGuyana<\/td>\nMozambique<\/td>\nSwaziland<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Barbados<\/td>\nHaiti<\/td>\nNamibia<\/td>\nTanzania<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Belize<\/td>\nHonduras<\/td>\nNicaragua<\/td>\nThailand<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Benin<\/td>\nHong Kong<\/td>\nPalestinian territories<\/td>\nTrinidad and Tobago<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Botswana<\/td>\nIndonesia<\/td>\nPanama<\/td>\nTunisia<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Brazil<\/td>\nIreland<\/td>\nParaguay<\/td>\nUruguay<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Chile<\/td>\nIsrael<\/td>\nPeru<\/td>\nVanuatu<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Costa Rica<\/td>\nJamaica<\/td>\nPhilippines<\/td>\nVenezuela<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Dominica<\/td>\nKenya<\/td>\nQatar<\/td>\nZambia<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Dominican Republic<\/td>\nKosovo<\/td>\nRussian Federation<\/td>\nZimbabwe<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Ecuador<\/td>\nLesotho<\/td>\nSaint Kitts and Nevis<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
El Salvador<\/td>\nMacao<\/td>\nSaint Lucia<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Fiji<\/td>\nMalawi<\/td>\nSenegal<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Visa on arrival<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
Armenia<\/td>\nGhana<\/strong><\/td>\nMarshall Islands<\/td>\nTajikistan<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Bolivia<\/td>\nGuinea-Bissau<\/td>\nMauritania<\/td>\nTimor-Leste<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Cambodia<\/td>\nIran<\/td>\nNepal<\/td>\nTogo<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Cape Verde<\/td>\nJordan<\/td>\nOman<\/td>\nTurkey<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Comoros<\/td>\nKyrgyzstan<\/td>\nPalau<\/td>\nTuvalu<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Djibouti<\/td>\nLaos<\/td>\nRwanda<\/td>\nUganda<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Ethiopia<\/td>\nMadagascar<\/td>\nSamoa<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Gabon<\/strong><\/td>\nMaldives<\/td>\nSeychelles (visitor’s permit)<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Electronic Travel Authority (eTA) entry<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
Ivory Coast<\/td>\nIndia<\/td>\nSri Lanka<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n

Read:\u00a0This European country is attracting as much property interest as some Cape Town suburbs<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Speaking to the BusinessTech at the end of January 2018, a Home Affairs spokesperson confirmed that visa-free travel to the EU was still on the cards.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":228255,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9876],"tags":[11095,26],"class_list":["post-228249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-arton-capital","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=228249"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228249\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":228297,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228249\/revisions\/228297"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/228255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=228249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=228249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=228249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}