Embassy visits will soon be a distant memory for visa-non-exempt nationals thanks to STAGES: our groundbreaking new film industry digital visa system.
Visitors from visa-non-exempt countries (eg India, China, Egypt, Lebanon) who need visas to enter South Africa, along with production roles that are categorized as “Specialists” such as talent, will soon be able to apply for the required visas digitally via your South African service company. This ground-breaking initiative is thanks to the amazing team at FIVA (Film Industry Visa Assistance) who have worked tirelessly with South African Home Affairs to streamline the process, ensuring that South Africa remains one of the world’s leading, film-friendly countries. This means:
- no more stressing over last minute visas for talent from non-visa-exempt countries
- no more time-consuming embassy visits
- no more stress when there are no embassy appointments available
- no more nail-biting waiting for a visa to be ready
- anticipated turnaround time of approx. 3 working days
The new STAGES system is due to launch in December; we will update this post as soon as it is a GO.
NB For most visa exempt nationals (eg USA, UK, France, Sweden, Germany etc) the system remains the same as before & your service company will issue a Visa letter of authority for you. Validity ranges from 21 days to 90 days depending on your country. You can check the list of visa exempt countries HERE
