When you travel or temporarily live, work or study abroad, your passport is a precious document that must be kept safe at all costs. A lost or stolen passport is any traveller’s worst nightmare.

Sometimes, unfortunately, you come across emigrants who say that they are “so tired of South Africa that they are just going to burn their passports after the migration process has been completed”. All we can say about this is that it would be a stupid decision.

South Africa is still one of the few countries in the world that allows multiple citizenships. Despite the recent court case where the ruling confirmed that a person may not unknowingly and unintentionally lose their South African citizenship, it is still safer to apply for the retention of your citizenship before applying for citizenship of any other country.

Even after obtaining citizenship and the passport of another country, it is still essential to ensure that the South African passport remains valid at all times and that it is always used to enter and exit South Africa.

Elsewhere in the world, you can decide for yourself which passport to use. Because there are many countries where visa requirements apply to South Africans, it is sometimes more convenient to travel with a different passport. These requirements are also constantly being adjusted, so it is safest to check the visa requirements of the destination country before any cross-border travel. For example, for years it had been possible for tourists with South African passports to visit Ireland without a visa, but this changed in 2024 one must apply for one now.

Travellers who make use of flights at special prices should also check whether they will need a transit visa if they travel via another country to their destination. This applies, for example, to flights from South Africa to Europe if you have a connecting flight in Britain.

The Henley Passport Index provides a comparative list of the passports of 199 countries with 227 destinations. The index determines how “friendly” the various passports are, in other words, for how many countries visa requirements will apply when you travel with the particular passport.

In 2024, South Africa achieved the 48th position on the list. The survey has been conducted for eighteen years, in other words since 2006. At that time, South Africa achieved a much more favourable 37th place. Since then, it has also risen to the 35th position (2008 and 2009) and dropped to the 58th place (2021). Information is updated monthly in collaboration with the International Air Transport Authority (IATA). “Ordinary” passports are used for the index, not emergency or diplomatic passports. It also focuses on short stay tourism or business trips  only.

The 48th place out of 199 countries is not too bad and proves that there are other countries of origin that have much less popular passports than the South African “green mamba” (as our passport is sometimes derisively referred to).

A mistake with a passport or visa application can literally and figuratively cost you dearly. Thorough planning, caution and honesty remain the keywords for success.

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