{"id":401037,"date":"2020-05-23T17:49:52","date_gmt":"2020-05-23T15:49:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=401037"},"modified":"2020-05-23T17:49:52","modified_gmt":"2020-05-23T15:49:52","slug":"south-africans-are-now-allowed-to-leave-the-country-for-essential-travel-what-you-need-to-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/lifestyle\/401037\/south-africans-are-now-allowed-to-leave-the-country-for-essential-travel-what-you-need-to-know\/","title":{"rendered":"South Africans are now allowed to leave the country for &#8216;essential travel&#8217; &#8211; what you need to know"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Minister of Home Affairs, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi has approved &#8216;essential travel&#8217; for South Africans who want to return to countries where they are based.<\/p>\n<p>In a media statement on Saturday (23 May), Motsoaledi said that the approval was made following consultations with the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (Dirco) and the National Coronavirus Command Council.<\/p>\n<p>Motsoaledi said that\u00a0South Africans who wish to leave the country are permitted to depart only for the following reasons:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Work;<\/li>\n<li>Study;<\/li>\n<li>Family reunion;<\/li>\n<li>Take up permanent residency;<\/li>\n<li>Receive medical attention.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8220;South Africa, like many countries in the world, has implemented travel restrictions as part of the measures put in place to fight the spread of Covid-19,&#8221;\u00a0 he said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Travel between countries is allowed in special circumstances.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><strong>What you need for essential travel<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Motsoaledi said that South Africans wishing to return to the countries where they reside should have the following:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A copy of their valid South African passport;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>A letter confirming their admissibility under the current circumstances from the embassy or other diplomatic\/consular representative of the country they want to travel to;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>If returning by road or connecting via flights, the proof submitted needs to include permission from each transiting country;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Proof of means of travel such as air or bus tickets and the intended date of departure.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8220;South Africans who fall in these categories and satisfy the criteria can send an email to Covid19travel@dha.gov.za. An email will be sent to travellers who meet the criteria to enable them to proceed with their travel arrangements,&#8221; said Motsoaledi.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;People applying as a group can send one email with the supporting documents for each member of the group.&#8221;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Read: <a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/400961\/new-return-plans-for-south-african-university-students\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">New return plans for South African university students<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Minister of Home Affairs Dr Aaron Motsoaledi has approved &#8216;essential travel&#8217;\u00a0 for South Africans who want to return to countries where they are based.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":94011,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9876],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-401037","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401037","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=401037"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401037\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":401045,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401037\/revisions\/401045"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=401037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=401037"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=401037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}