Angola has announced the immediate visa-free entry for passport holders of ninety-eight countries. See them here.
Angola opens up visa-free access for THESE nations. Image: Pexels
Last week Angola passed a resolution to allow visa-free entry for 90-day stays to nationals from over 90 countries.
The new resolution is contained in Presidential Decree Number 189/23 of 29 September 2023.
ANGOLA VISAS
Securing Angolan visas has often involved high costs and much patience since the process incurred much red tape.
However, there has been a sudden change. Angola has now opened its borders to visitors from a large number of countries.
This is a step in the direction of opening up the country’s tourism sector.
BOOSTING TOURISM
TRT AFRIKA states that Angola’s 90-day visa-free stay is available to visitors arriving in the country exclusively for tourism purposes.
For other types of visas such as work, study, medical treatment or residence permits, foreign nationals must apply for appropriate visas through the proper channels.
Angola’s famous tourist attractions include tropical Atlantic beaches, the Sub-Saharan Namib desert and several rivers.
NATIONALITIES INCLUDED IN ANGOLA VISA-FREE LIST:
AFRICA
Fourteen African nations are on the list for visa-free entry.
These include Tanzania, Eswatini, Morocco, Lesotho, Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Equatorial Guinea, Botswana, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Seychelles, Cape Verde and Algeria.
South Africans have not needed visas for Angola since 1 December 2017, when a visa-abolition agreement was signed between both nations.
ASIA
There are 11 countries on the visa-exempt list from Asia. These include:
The United Arab Emirates, Japan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, India, Indonesia, Singapore, Timor-Leste, China and Israel.
EUROPE
There are 35 European countries on the list.
These are Türkiye, Russia, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, the Vatican State, the Czech Republic, Luxembourg, Hungary, the Netherlands, Monaco, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, Great Britain and Ireland.
Also included on the list are Norway, Estonia, Finland, Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Slovakia, France, Greece, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Romania, Cyprus, Slovenia, Iceland, Italy and Portugal.
AMERICAS
The following countries in the America’s are mentioned on the list:
The United States of America, Mexico, Argentina, Canada, Chile, Panama, Uruguay and Brazil.
In the Caribbean region, 16 countries were selected. They are Barbados, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Belize, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Cook Islands, Jamaica, Kiribati and Dominican Republic.
Also exempted are Saint Lucia, the Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago.
OCEANIA
From the Oceania region, the countries that will now have 90-day visa-free entry to Angola are Fiji, Australia, Marshall Islands, Solomon Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, New Zealand, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu and Niue Island.
ANGOLAN AIRLINE
Angola’s national airline TAAG flies from both Johannesburg and Cape Town to Angola’s capital, Luanda. The airline is also considering flights to and from Durban in the near future.
TAAG Angola Airlines flights are a favourable option for South Africa’s Portuguese community when choosing to travel to Portugal since the airline offers convenient connections to Lisbon and Porto.