S/A-Nigeria business chamber rolls sleeves to fix visa bottlenecks

For Nigerians, securing a visa to South Africa often proves to be a daunting task, marked by stringent requirements and protracted processing times.

However, the South Africa-Nigeria Business Chamber, a prominent business lobby group headquartered in Johannesburg, is striving to turn the tide in favor of smoother travel and enhanced trade relations between the two nations.

In an exclusive interview, Dianne Games, CEO of the chamber, sits down with Lolade Akinmurele, Deputy Editor at BusinessDay Nigeria, to shed light on ongoing efforts to ease travel barriers for Nigerians and South Africans alike, fostering stronger business and cultural ties.

Q: Getting a visa to South Africa may be just as tough as getting into heaven. It’s been a grey area in the relationship between both countries. What are you doing in terms of easing the visa application process for Nigerian visitors to South Africa?

The visa issue between South Africa and Nigeria, as everyone knows, has been quite a thorny one. It’s problematic not just in terms of people traveling between the countries, but also because it’s symbolic in a way, of a lack of trust or other problems in the relationship and so it’s important to address it, not just for the travel process, which is important in itself, but also for the good of the greater relationship.

So what’s been happening? Certainly, a lot of the problems have been on the side of Nigerians not easily getting visas for South Africa. There’s been a lot of work done there. I know Nigerians think we’re just sitting back and just letting the problem happen.

But actually, the chamber has been very proactive in trying to solve this problem. We’ve been dealing with the Banking Association South Africa. They have a plan with various big private sector companies, talking to the government, talking to Home Affairs and various other government ministries. So there’s been a lot of work behind the scenes, and we are seeing this bearing fruit now, where people are getting longer-term visas. We are identifying and working better with groups wanting to come to conferences or for tourism, and also identifying companies that are regular travelers.

We find that a lot of the burden has been on people not giving the right documents.

I think we have to also look at how Nigerians must play their part in resolving this because they’re the ones who lose out. Nigerians use agents who often just do fraudulent documents. They don’t want to submit their bank statements. They don’t always put the right documents in. They apply with very short notice, and the mission is quite swamped. There’s a lot of applications a week, and things like this. So we feel that both sides need to play a role. Everybody needs to be responsible in this area. We can’t have people refusing to provide necessary documents. That’s what needs to be provided, even if you don’t agree with it, you know, I think that all countries can insist on that, and it’s the same vice versa.

We are finding a problem here with Nigerian visas for South Africans, the Nigerian visa is very expensive. $248 in rand terms is quite high. And also, we get three month visas on the whole and so you’re paying a big price, and you’re getting a short-term visa. Even for regular travelers, they make no distinction. At the moment, it is something we have raised. And we’re also trying to deal with business from this side as well, and also the turnaround times that are quite long here, you know, three to five weeks to get a visa.

A lot of people are using visas on arrival as a result.

So I think we all have to look at what the issues are on both sides. And let’s streamline this thing. Everybody just wants a quick, predictable, efficient service. We don’t need all the drama around these visas, because we need to concentrate on the more positive parts of this relationship. And we are endlessly distracted by this distraction.

Q: With the right documents, would you say it’s easier to get a South African visa these days?

Yes, it is easier now. I think they’re moving towards almost pre-approving frequent travelers and granting longer-term visas. However, when an embassy faces pressure from high application volumes and insufficient staff, they need alternative solutions beyond just identifying the problem. Visa fees for Nigerians, for instance, are quite high. I can’t recall the exact cost of a South African visa, but agents are very active in this space, and their charges often make the process even more expensive.

Q: Let’s talk about the Nigerian businesses in your chamber. How many members do you have, and what percentage are Nigerian businesses?

There are two categories of Nigerian businesses here: those owned by Nigerians and foreign investments from Nigeria, like Access Bank and Dangote Group. Both are members, as are Flutterwave and Paystack. There’s also a packaging company we’re working on recruiting, but they’re not members yet.

We’ve found that many Nigerian companies don’t join, even though we can assist with visas and other issues thanks to our connections with diplomatic missions and governments. Instead, they tend to operate independently. That said, about 30% of our members are Nigerian businesses or individuals, and they are some of our most active participants.

We also have many South African businesses, like Standard Bank and Rosebank Capital, as members. However, overall membership numbers ebb and flow depending on Nigeria’s economic environment. Some South African companies have pulled out due to Nigeria’s challenging market, which makes it a tough sell at the moment.