Immigration
Ireland | Introduction of visa requirements for nationals of South Africa and Botswana
Summary
Effective from 10 July 2024, nationals of South Africa and Botswana can no longer avail of visa-free travel to Ireland and will instead be required to obtain an entry visa prior to travelling.
Transitional arrangements to facilitate visa free travel have been put in place for individuals who have existing travel arrangements (made before July 10th) and who intend on traveling to Ireland before August 9th.
The detail
The Irish government has made the decision to introduce visa requirements on nationals of South Africa and Botswana for a number of reasons, namely to closer align Ireland with current policies for these countries within the Schengen Area and the UK, and as a result of a significant increase in International Protection applications from these countries.
This visa requirement will obviously have an impact on many Irish organisations in terms of recruiting key talent from South Africa and Botswana as it will lead to longer lead times to get new hires on the ground. The visa requirement will also impact business travel to Ireland for nationals of both countries as pre-clearance will need to be in place before travel can be undertaken.
The Irish government has however committed to establishing three Visa Application Centres in South Africa along with a dedicated team in Dublin to process applications from South African nationals with a view to processing visa applications quickly and efficiently and we are hopeful that processing times will be minimal.
How we can support
We appreciate that this is a significant change to current visa and immigration policy and one that may impact your current employment, immigration and global mobility policies. We are happy to discuss any queries you might have and assist you in navigating these changes.
Contact us
For a deeper discussion on the above, please reach out to your Vialto Partners point of contact, or alternatively:
Aoife Kilmurray
Director
Lindsay Tester
Senior Manager
Fergus English
Manager