What you need to enter South Africa with an Italian passport

Authorization system

Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA)

Launched in October 2025 to coincide with South Africa's G20 summit, the ETA is still being rolled out in phases: as of the verification date only holders of ordinary passports from China, India, Indonesia, and Mexico can apply, arriving by air (OR Tambo Johannesburg, Cape Town, or Lanseria) with a passport valid for at least 6 months. The government has said it will gradually expand to other visa-required nationalities, with no confirmed date. Anyone who needs it and arrives without it cannot get it on arrival — entry is denied.

Fee

ZAR 500.00

ZAR 500 fee (~USD 30) effective from 17/08/2026 (the day before this verification), published in the Government Gazette — before that date the ETA had no fee of its own since it lacked an integrated payment gateway.

Processing time

For travellers who need the ETA, the Department of Home Affairs puts the response at around two hours, with the approved authorisation issued within 24 hours of applying. Airports run dedicated lanes for travellers arriving with an ETA already issued.

Required documents

• A passport valid for at least 30 days beyond your intended date of departure from South Africa
• At least two completely blank pages for the entry and exit stamps. If you are applying for a transit visa, the requirement rises to three blank pages

Vaccinations

• No mandatory vaccines for general entry. A yellow fever certificate is required from travellers over 1 year of age arriving from a country with risk of transmission —expressly including Eritrea, São Tomé and Príncipe, Somalia, Tanzania and Zambia— or who have transited more than 12 hours through the airport of one of those countries.

Health insurance

Not mandatory for this destination.

Transit rules

The Minister of Home Affairs has exempted travellers transiting through certain South African international airports from the transit visa. The important exception is overland: anyone using a land port of entry to transit through the country does have to apply for a port of entry visa. Where a transit visa is needed, it requires an original passport valid for at least thirty days beyond the end of the intended visit, with three completely blank pages.

Customs limits

Cash

Up to ZAR 100,000 in local or foreign currency (or bearer negotiable instruments) can be carried without prior approval; above that it must be declared. Since 01/07/2026 the traveller declaration is mandatory and online (SARS Traveller Management System) for most travellers.

Alcohol

2 litres of wine + 1 litre of spirits or other alcoholic beverages, duty-free, per person aged 18 or over.

Tobacco

200 cigarettes, 20 cigars, and 250 grams of tobacco, duty-free, per person aged 18 or over.

Overstay penalties

South Africa does not charge a daily fine: it declares you an undesirable person, which bars entry for a fixed period. Where the overstay is no more than 30 days, the declaration runs for 12 months. Beyond 30 days, it is five years. There is an appeal procedure before the Department of Home Affairs to have the declaration lifted.

Common reasons for denial

• Needing the ETA and arriving without it: while the phased rollout continues, it can't be obtained on arrival.