South Africa's ETA now lets Indian families and groups apply together online, kids included

South Africa has just made the paperwork for that long-promised safari a lot less painful. South African Tourism has announced that its Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) has been expanded, and eligible Indian passport holders can now apply entirely online, with no trip to a visa processing centre. The big upgrade: the ETA now takes applications for minors and has a multi-applicant option, so families and groups can apply together through a single portal. The old eVisa system, meanwhile, is being retired on 1 December 2026.

What has actually changed

Until now, the ETA was a neat solution for the solo traveller or the business visitor. The expanded version is built for the way Indians really travel, which is usually with parents, kids, cousins or an entire office in tow. Here is what is new:

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• Minors can apply. Children can now be included, with biometric capture and enrolment on South Africa's Home Affairs National Identification System (HANIS) for those aged seven and above.
• One portal for the whole gang. A multi-applicant feature lets families and groups submit their applications together through one portal.
• Bigger reach. The ETA now covers 53 countries, including every market that was earlier served by the eVisa.
• Goodbye eVisa. The eVisa system will be decommissioned on 1 December 2026, with everything moving to the ETA platform.

Neliswa Nkani, Hub Head MEISEA at South African Tourism, said the expansion is meant to make travel planning simpler for eligible visitors, including families and groups.

How the ETA works for Indians

The ETA was opened to eligible Indian passport holders earlier in 2026, and the basics stay the same. It covers short tourism and work visits of up to 90 days and supports multiple entries during its validity. There is no visa sticker; the authorisation is linked digitally to your passport. Applications are intended to be processed within 24 to 48 hours.

The process runs through the South African Department of Home Affairs ETA portal:

1. Create an account.
2. Upload a photo of the passport you will travel on.
3. Fill in the online form and upload the required documents.
4. Verify your identity with smartphone-based biometrics.
5. Pay the application fee and submit.
6. Track your application status online.

One thing to remember: the ETA is a pre-authorisation, not a guarantee. Final admission is still decided by South African border officers when you land. Check the eligibility rules and the current fee on the official Home Affairs portal before you book anything.

Where you can land

At launch, the ETA was set up for arrivals at O.R. Tambo International in Johannesburg, Cape Town International and Lanseria International, with more ports of entry planned in later phases. That covers the obvious entry points for a first trip: Johannesburg for the Kruger and the Big Five, Cape Town for Table Mountain, the Winelands and the coast.

The cricket angle

None of this is happening by accident. South African Tourism says the next phase of the rollout is aimed at key growth markets ahead of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2027. India, a country that travels for cricket the way other countries travel for football, is very clearly on that list. If you have been quietly planning a cricket-and-safari trip with the boys, the multi-applicant option is designed with exactly that kind of group in mind.

The FHM take

Visa paperwork has always been the least glamorous part of an African holiday, and the part most likely to kill a group plan in the WhatsApp chat. Letting a whole family or a gang of friends apply together, kids included, from a phone, is the kind of unsexy fix that actually gets people on planes. Book the safari, sort the ETA early, and save your nerves for the last over.