Do You Need a Visa for Zimbabwe or South Africa?

If you're planning a trip to Zimbabwe or South Africa from the UK, the visa answer depends entirely on which passport you're travelling on. Here's the short version.

Last verified: 4 September 2026 against gov.uk, the Zimbabwe eVisa portal and South Africa's Department of Home Affairs. Visa rules and fees change without notice; check the official source before you travel. Travel Orbit is a travel agency, not an immigration adviser.

Below we cover fees, where to apply, passport rules, and what dual nationals and Zimbabwean-born British citizens should do differently.

Do UK passport holders need a visa for Zimbabwe?

Yes. UK passport holders are not visa-exempt for Zimbabwe: some travel sites claim a "90 days visa-free" arrangement, but that's wrong and contradicts gov.uk's Zimbabwe travel advice. The UK sits in Zimbabwe's Category B nationality group, meaning a visa either on arrival or in advance online. If you're heading home to Zimbabwe over the festive period, our guide to flying home to Zimbabwe for Christmas covers booking timing and baggage alongside the visa question.

Visa on arrival is usually granted for up to 30 days at the port of entry. Bring small-denomination US dollar notes to pay the fee, as change isn't always available.

eVisa applications are made in advance at evisa.gov.zw, the official government portal. A number of look-alike commercial sites exist that are not run by the Zimbabwean government and may charge more than the official fee. Use evisa.gov.zw only.

On fees, published figures for the standard Category B visa cluster around US$30 single entry, US$45 double entry, and US$55 for a multiple-entry business visa valid around a year, though higher figures appear elsewhere. Treat these as a guide and confirm the exact current amount on the eVisa portal before you pay.

Combining Zimbabwe with Zambia, or a day trip into Botswana via Kazungula? The KAZA UniVisa (around US$50, valid 30 days) covers Zimbabwe and Zambia together, available at Victoria Falls, Livingstone and a number of land borders, though not every border post issues it.

The Zimbabwe Embassy in London no longer issues visas. Gov.uk states this explicitly, and the embassy's own site directs applicants to the eVisa portal instead.

Your passport needs at least 6 months' validity remaining from your arrival date, and gov.uk recommends at least 3 blank pages. A yellow fever certificate is only required if you're arriving from, or have transited more than 12 hours through, a country with yellow fever transmission risk. A direct flight from the UK doesn't trigger this requirement.

Do UK passport holders need a visa for South Africa?

No, not for a tourist or business visit of up to 90 days. The UK is on South Africa's visa-exemption list, confirmed by both gov.uk and the Department of Home Affairs.

You'll need a passport valid for at least 30 days beyond your intended departure date from South Africa, with at least 2 completely blank pages. Immigration officers and airlines can also ask for proof of a return or onward ticket, so it's worth having your itinerary ready.

Two things changed for 2026. From 1 July 2026, gov.uk states that all travellers, including visa-exempt UK nationals, will need to submit an online traveller declaration before travelling by air, land, sea or rail. We haven't been able to pin down the exact portal at the time of writing; check via South Africa's Department of Home Affairs closer to your travel date.

Separately, South Africa launched an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) on 12 August 2026, initially applying to a small group of nationalities (China, India, Indonesia and Mexico). It remains optional for visa-exempt nationalities including the UK, so you don't currently need one, but the scope is expected to widen, so check again before you book if your trip is some way off. If you're flying on to Johannesburg, our direct vs one-stop flights guide covers the route options alongside these entry rules.

Travelling on a different passport, Nigerian, Ghanaian, Kenyan or similar? The rules differ; see our guide on visa-free holiday destinations for those passports.

Do Zimbabwean citizens need a visa to enter Zimbabwe?

No. Zimbabwean passport holders enter on their national passport with no visa required, subject to the usual practical advice of keeping at least 6 months' validity on the document.

Dual nationality matters here too. Zimbabwe's 2013 Constitution changed the rules so that citizens by birth are constitutionally entitled to hold dual or multiple citizenship, reversing the older position under which acquiring another nationality automatically ended Zimbabwean citizenship. If you were born a Zimbabwean citizen and later became a British citizen, you're generally entitled to keep both.

There is one important, practical wrinkle for Zimbabwean-born British citizens. A Zimbabwean court has found it unlawful to charge visa fees to citizens who present a foreign passport, but several recent reports suggest this ruling isn't applied consistently at ports of entry. In practice, presenting a UK passport can still mean being charged the standard Category B fee. Our practical recommendation is to travel on your Zimbabwean passport if it's valid, since that avoids the question entirely. Treat the court ruling as background rather than a guarantee.

Do Zimbabwean passport holders need a visa for South Africa?

For short visits, no. Zimbabwe is on South Africa's Department of Home Affairs visa-exemption list, which allows Zimbabwean passport holders to enter visa-free for tourism or business stays of up to 90 days.

A visa is only required if you intend to stay longer than 90 days, or you're travelling to work or study. In those cases, applications from the UK go through VFS Global's South Africa Visa Application Centre in London rather than the High Commission directly, since the High Commission stopped accepting in-person applications some years ago.

One permit is worth flagging so it doesn't get confused with visitor rules: the Zimbabwe Exemption Permit (ZEP) is a residence and work permit for Zimbabweans already living in South Africa, not a tourist visa. It was extended to 28 May 2027, though that extension is currently under a court challenge from an anti-immigration advocacy group, so its long-term status isn't fully settled.

Whether you hold UK residence status doesn't change any of this. South Africa's visa-exemption decision is based on the passport you present, not where you live.

What about transiting through Johannesburg?

Many routes between the UK and Zimbabwe's smaller airports, or between the UK and Zimbabwe generally when using a one-stop routing, pass through OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg. See our guide on flying from the UK to Zimbabwe for the airline options.

South Africa exempts travellers transiting through OR Tambo, Cape Town International, King Shaka and Lanseria from needing a separate transit visa, though biometric capture still applies. Since Zimbabwean passport holders are already visa-exempt for South Africa, and OR Tambo is on that exempt list, an airside connection shouldn't require a visa either way. That said, we couldn't confirm this exact combination (Zimbabwean passport, airside-only transit) on an official Home Affairs page, so check directly if your layover involves leaving the transit area for any reason.

What about children travelling to South Africa?

South Africa relaxed its strict birth-certificate requirement for foreign minors in November 2019. After that change, a foreign child travelling with their parent(s) no longer had a legal requirement to carry an unabridged birth certificate or parental consent letter. Unaccompanied minors and South African children still need supporting documents.

We weren't able to reconfirm this relaxation on a current Department of Home Affairs page during this review, and airline check-in staff don't always apply the relaxed rule consistently: a boarding refusal can't be appealed at the gate. Our practical advice: carry the child's birth certificate (or equivalent proof of the parent-child relationship) regardless, and check the current position with Home Affairs before you travel with children.

What do I need to return to the UK?

If you're a Zimbabwean national living in the UK, your immigration status is now digital. Biometric Residence Permits (BRPs) all expired by end-2024 and have been replaced by eVisas held against your UKVI account.

Before you travel, check that your eVisa is correctly linked to the passport you'll be travelling on, and generate a share code at gov.uk/view-prove-immigration-status as a backup. Airlines and border staff check status digitally, so a share code isn't strictly mandatory for boarding, but it's a sensible safety net if the automatic check doesn't pull up cleanly.

If you already hold valid UK immigration status (indefinite leave to remain, an eVisa, or other current permission to stay), you do not need a UK Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) to come home; that applies to visitors without existing status, not returning residents. For more on the flight itself, see our Harare to London flights guide.

What about yellow fever and malaria?

A yellow fever certificate is only required if you're arriving from, or have transited more than 12 hours through, a yellow fever risk country. A UK-originating flight to either Zimbabwe or South Africa doesn't trigger this.

For malaria in Zimbabwe, TravelHealthPro rates risk as high below 1,200 metres between November and June, low between July and October, and very low in Harare and Bulawayo specifically, relevant to Victoria Falls and lowveld itineraries. Malaria advice is clinical, so speak to a GP or travel clinic about antimalarial tablets rather than relying on general guidance.

Rules that may change before December 2026

A few things here are in motion, and we'll keep this page updated as they settle:

• South Africa's ETA rollout: currently limited to a handful of nationalities and optional for the UK, but Home Affairs has signalled plans to widen it through the rest of 2026.
• South Africa's online traveller declaration, starting 1 July 2026: new at the time of writing, with the exact portal and how strictly it's enforced still to be confirmed.
• The Zimbabwe Exemption Permit court challenge: a legal challenge to the ZEP's extension is ongoing; the outcome could affect Zimbabweans currently living in South Africa on a ZEP.
• Enforcement of Zimbabwe's dual-nationality visa-fee ruling: the underlying court ruling exists, but whether it's applied consistently at Zimbabwean ports of entry could change.
• eVisa and ETA fee levels: both Zimbabwe's eVisa and South Africa's ETA are relatively new digital systems, and fee schedules for new government e-services often shift in their first year or two.

How can Travel Orbit help?

Once the passport question is settled, the next job is a route that actually works for your dates. We book the direct Gatwick–Harare service, one-stop routings via Nairobi, Addis Ababa or Dubai, and combined Zimbabwe and South Africa itineraries. Start with our Zimbabwe and South Africa pages, then get in touch with your dates.

Sources

• gov.uk, Zimbabwe travel advice — entry requirements
• gov.uk, South Africa travel advice — entry requirements
• gov.uk, View or prove your immigration status (share code)
• Zimbabwe eVisa portal — evisa.gov.zw
• Zimbabwe Embassy London — visa information
• South Africa Department of Home Affairs — dha.gov.za
• TravelHealthPro — Zimbabwe country page