Monday, the 11th October 2021, South Africans can fly over to the UK without needing to worry about needing to quarantine in a hotel. So too can returning British nationals, that visit South Africa, no longer need to quarantine upon their return.
1/5
South Africa is coming off the UK Government’s travel red list.
From 11 October eligible fully vaccinated travellers from 🇿🇦:✈can travel to the UK
✈will not have to isolate
✈and won’t need a pre-travel test – just a Day 2 testhttps://t.co/DqueVXrFPe— UK in South Africa🇬🇧 (@ukinsouthafrica) October 7, 2021
2/5
Not fully vaccinated? You can still travel to 🇬🇧 and not hotel quarantine.You must:
✔do a pre-travel test
✔10 days isolation – or ‘test to release’ on Day 5
✔test on Days 2 + 8 (even if you test out early)https://t.co/8IjV40Benu— UK in South Africa🇬🇧 (@ukinsouthafrica) October 7, 2021
3/5
The UK and South Africa have a strong relationship and shared values.We greatly appreciate the 🇬🇧 🇿🇦 scientist discussion last week to share the very latest data and will continue to support @HealthZA’s #COVID19 response and #VaccineRollOutSA
— UK in South Africa🇬🇧 (@ukinsouthafrica) October 7, 2021
4/5
Are you planning a trip to 🇬🇧from 🇿🇦?
Our visa services will workl through current applications as quickly as possible.
Please do not make travel plans – including booking flights – until you receive your visa.
More information can be found at https://t.co/pEqNf14dnd.— UK in South Africa🇬🇧 (@ukinsouthafrica) October 7, 2021
5/5
Are you a British National planning a trip to 🇿🇦?Our FCDO Travel Advice will be updated shortly. Do keep an eye on this before, during and after travel https://t.co/yI0jHqFVVb
Our consular team can be contacted online at https://t.co/rx2TRnUiNv or by phone +27(0)124217500
— UK in South Africa🇬🇧 (@ukinsouthafrica) October 7, 2021
We will look back at this pandemic and hopefully think about the quick fix strategies that public officials had to implement. That they did the best job that they could do.
When it comes to the UK’s hotel quarantine, one can appreciate the concept as a means to protect the UK public. Behind the scenes, managing UK public opinion and their concerns of variants is also part of the procedure.
Desperate times call for desperate measures.
From our perspective, the real hero’s in rectifying this blanket rule is Pretoria’s team of British representatives, the team at British High Commission.
Their updates have given South Africans insight into the background dealings and attempts to address solutions. Without this insight, we would have been left in the dark.
Seeing their updates has verified their commitment to maintaining a working relationship during this tough time.
Joint statement with @HealthZA after #COVID19 discussions today pic.twitter.com/iHxSjFqguK
— UK in South Africa🇬🇧 (@ukinsouthafrica) September 27, 2021
The red list, which covers over 50 countries, is in place to protect public health in the UK. We do not want current travel restrictions to be in place any longer than necessary and recognise the disruption they cause and the impact on people’s lives. https://t.co/uf6tq9GFow
— UK in South Africa🇬🇧 (@ukinsouthafrica) September 20, 2021
To support the Government’s aim to protect public health from #COVID19, UKVI continues to pause issuing Visit visas to customers in red list countries, including 🇿🇦. Visit https://t.co/DUZE75X6et for COVID-19 visa guidance.
— UK in South Africa🇬🇧 (@ukinsouthafrica) August 6, 2021
At this stage, it looks like the visa decision-makers have a backlog of visitor visa submissions that they have to process. We are expecting long delays for the remainder of this month.
November, we should see that UK visa processing times regain reliability in terms of maintaining 3 week processing times from the submission date.
The UK visa process, in terms of visitor applications, has been disrupted. Making any predictions in terms of how and when visitor visas will be issued is anyone’s guess.
Fortunately, work permits and settlement visas are processed separately and their processing times should not be negatively impacted by the opening of visitor visa applications.
To address your UK visa options, please be encouraged to take a look at our Service Offerings page to find out more information.