Author: Hi5Digital

“Qatar’s Ministry of Interior, Qatar Tourism Authority and Qatar Airways announced visa waivers for over 80 countries, including South Africa, on August 9.

Travellers wishing to visit Qatar will no longer need to pay or apply for a visa, effective immediately. Instead, travellers will be issued with a multi-entry waiver, free of charge, at their port of entry into Qatar. A valid passport with a minimum validity of six months and a confirmed onward or return ticket must be presented.

There will be two types of visa waivers. The first will be for 33 countries including Austria, Germany, France and the Seychelles. This waiver will be valid for 180 days from the date it is issued and will allow the holder to spend up to 90 days in Qatar on either a single stay or on multiple trips.

The second, which will apply to South Africa, Canada, America, Australia and the United Kingdom, will be valid for 30 days from the date of issue. The waiver will allow the holder to spend up to 30 days in Qatar, either on a single trip or on multiple trips. It can also be extended for a further 30 days.

This is one of many steps Qatar is taking to encourage travel and access to the country following the Qatar travel ban in June. Last month, Qatar lunched an e-visa platform that enables faster and more efficient visa applications.”

New Address:-

1 Thibault Square, 20^th floor, Long Street, Cape Town, 8001

Tel : + 27 87 808 55 07
Fax: + 27 86 589 3248

Email: capetown@visaforchina.org

Business hours: Monday to Friday 09h00 – 12h30

For : Delivery and collections and payments

Closed: Saturdays, Sundays & Public Holidays

Delay: taking 6 working days

Visa fees have increased  – Please contact VISALOGIX FOR THE NEW FEES
There is an additional  service fee to be paid to the centre, of which we await for further advice

Any other information please contact VISALOGIX CAPE TOWN TO ASSIST YOU FOR YOUR CHINESE VISAS.

Visas for diplomats and state officials from South Africa and the Democratic Republic of Congo have been waived.

On Monday July 31, Minister of Home Affairs Professor Hlengiwe Mkhize and a DRC delegation led by Deputy Prime Minister Emmanuel Ramazani signed the waiver agreement.

The waiver will allow diplomats and state officials from both countries to travel freely between the two countries. “As members of SADC, we have committed ourselves, through the Protocol on Facilitation of Movement of Persons that we shall continuously collaborate with each other progressively to attain the goal of easing travel and expanding trade and co-operation,” Mkhize said.

The Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival is an annual winter festival that takes place with a theme in Harbin, Heilongjiang, China, and now is the largest ice and snow festival in the world.
Location: Harbin CHINA
Dates: December 24 to February

27 June 2017

AS FROM 28 JUNE 2017 :
Australian Biometric Collection Centre (ABCC) – run by TLScontact : Greenacres Shopping Centre, Port Elizabeth
Office hours: Mon-Fri 0830 – 1530.
This service is available to Australian visa applicants needing to provide BIOMETRICS. Visa applications will NOT be accepted here, it is ONLY for biometrics.
No cash payments will be accepted at this office . Payment for the service fee is strictly debit or credit cards.

US authorities announced last week that they are considering extending the laptop ban in cabin baggage to flights originating in Europe.
The EU has responded by saying that this would lead to chaos and confusion across Europe, and has asked the US to be more open about information leading to its security concerns.

Meanwhile, aviation experts are concerned about the dangers of storing a large number of lithium batteries in the cargo hold. Lithium batteries are considered dangerous goods and should be carried in the passenger cabin.

US and EU officials will be meeting on Wednesday to discuss the proposed ban extension, but many believe that the decision to extend the ban has already been made, and are just waiting on the announcement

As of April 1, India’s e-visa has been subdivided into three categories: e-tourist, e-business and e-medical visas. Previously an e-visa was only available for tourists but now travellers can select the appropriate e-visa.

The duration of stay for the e-visa has also been increased from 30 to 60 days, with double entry on e-tourist and e-business visas and triple entry on e-medical visas.

The window for an e-visa application has been upped from 30 days to 120 days and travellers may apply online for the e-visa a minimum four days in advance of the date of arrival.

Travellers must carry a copy of the Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) during the time of travel and must confirm that the ETA status is shown as ‘granted’ on the website prior to travel.

Biometric details of the applicant will be mandatorily captured by immigration on arrival in India and agents are advised to warn their clients accordingly.

The e-visa is valid for entry through 24 designated airports: Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Bagdogra, Bengaluru, Calicut, Chennai, Chandigarh, Cochin, Coimbatore, Delhi, Gaya, Goa, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mangalore, Mumbai, Nagpur, Pune, Tiruchirapalli, Trivandrum and Varanasi as well as three designated seaports: Cochin, Goa, Mangalore.

While direct US flights operated by SAA and Delta Air Lines are not affected by the US Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) ban on carrying certain electronic devices in the cabin, many SA passengers travelling via Mid-East hubs are nevertheless affected. On March 21, the DHS announced a ban on all electronic devices larger than a cellphone/ smart phone on board the aircraft in carryon luggage or other accessible property on flights from certain airports to the US.

Six airlines operating indirect services to the US out of SA use hubs included in the ban. The airlines and hubs are Emirates (DXB), Turkish Airlines (IST), Etihad (AUH), Qatar (DOH), EgyptAir (CAI) and Saudia (JED). The UK then followed with its own ban on devices larger than 16cm x 9,3cm x 1,5cm on flights from Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and other Middle East countries that do not have services to SA. At this stage, the UK has not included flights from Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha. The DHS made the announcement earlier this week as a result of intelligence they received that terrorist groups were looking at innovative ways to smuggle explosive devices on board commercial flights. It is a trend rather than a specific alert and the measure is seen as an enhanced security measure. At this point it affects 10 of the 250 airports with flights into the US.

No domestic flights in the US are affected. Medical devices are excluded. In South Africa, where theft out of suitcases passing through its airports has been rampant and check-in staff routinely caution travellers to leave nothing of value in their checked-in luggage, this ban poses a particular problem. The DHS said that, as the threat picture changed, other airports and even domestic flights might be affected.

President Trump’s revised travel ban was blocked again just hours before it was due to become effective. US District Judge Derrick Watson cited “questionable evidence” that the ban was a matter of national security as argued by the US Government.

The recent order, revised from Trump’s initial order in January, planned to place a 90-day ban on people from six Muslim-majority countries and a 120-day ban on refugees. Trump said that the ruling to block the ban was an “unprecedented judicial overreach” and called it a “terrible decision”.

Quote from Travel News Weekly publication

The same goes for Russian citizens visiting South Africa.

Department of Home Affairs spokesperson Mayihlome Tshwete says: “It means less inconvenience, less administration when you want to travel to Russia.”

The Department of Home Affairs (DOH) has been engaging with Russia on the issue for a number of months.

Tshwete says the department believes South African travellers don’t pose many risks and should be afforded more convenient travel arrangements.

“South Africans don’t travel to countries to stay their indefinitely. We travel for visiting purposes and where we are travelling to stay for work, we travel through regular means. You don’t get many South Africans being deported back to South Africa,” he says.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation has issued a statement on the matter, saying: “Under the Protocol’s provisions, citizens of Russia and South Africa travelling without the intention of working, studying or living in the other country’s territory, are free from visa requirements.”

The DOH has extended an invite to the EU and other countries with which it has a no visa requirement to reciprocate those travel arrangements.