Electronic visa

Very relaxed.

You need to mentally budget a full hour just to process through the E-Visa desk and immigration, even if there are only 50 people on your plane.

Right.

Once you finally clear customs, you step outside.

I should have tied this into the Europe story.

If you have a criminal record, UK's new electronic travel authorization system is denying some travelers.

Yeah, and this is interesting because before criminal backgrounds were not checked, but now the ETA, that new electronic travel authorization, is flagging some people and asking, either denying them entry or asking them to go to the secondary step, which is applying for a visa.

We often run into this issue with people trying to go to Canada, particularly Alaska cruises.

Canada is very strict.

This feels like it's fairly new.

Normally, if you just got a passport, you just travel, you just take off.

But now countries are putting this electronic travel authorization system in place and kind of screening people.

It's a, an African passport.

It has visa-free access to interesting destinations like Hong Kong, Singapore, South Africa, an e-Visa to the UAE.

But it's not your typical strong passport.

But again, many Westerners that already have a strong main passport and they're just looking for their plan B, these jurisdictions, uh, and this type of, of program has become much more attractive during the last three years.

Second...

Initiate the E-Visa and GBAO permit applications at least three to four weeks ahead of time.

Because it can take a while.

The A-Visa processing can notoriously drag out to 15 working days without any explanation.

Mm.

Now it's just the e-Visa.

And the e-Visa, you have it on your email.

So when you go...

Not on your email, on your portal.

Our discussion today is an important one for many business people in Africa.

How do you efficiently get your visa? A seemingly simple process that can often become a nightmare with new requirements being introduced regularly, particularly for African states.

And my guest today to unpack this all is is Hari Prasad Vishwanathan, the CEO of Sub-Saharan Africa at VFS Global, based in Johannesburg.

Hari leads the company's Sub-Saharan African operation and has about 24 plus years of experience as a business leader with strong operations and business processes in an outsourced background, while VFS Global is the world's largest visa, passport and consular outsourcing

firm.

working with about 70 odd countries, I believe, worldwide.

Thank you, Greg.

Good to meet you.

Some countries, we're a way of a country, but you still need to, like, if you're going to America, you've got to get your ESTA.

If you go to the UK, it's called an ETA or an ETA.

See, this is stuff that I've genuinely found confusing.

I just thought your passport, that was that.

Absolute smart asses.

I was just minding

my own business and got a phone call from Reagan going, can you believe Simon thinks the British government will take this photo of him with the biggest shades you've ever seen with a beach behind him for his ETA?

Because when I sent it to him, now it's all making sense.

You've got a passport? Yes, so

for New Zealand passport holders travelling to the United Kingdom, it's an ETA, which is an Electronic Travel Authority.

So we'll work with you just to make sure that that's in place.

Great.