Home Affairs Withdraws 90-Day Visa Exemption For Palestinians Citing Abuse 

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Johannesburg – The South African Department of Home Affairs has withdrawn the 90-day visa exemption for Palestinian ordinary passport holders, citing an abuse of the facility by Israeli actors linked to “voluntary emigration”.

In mid-November 2025, a chartered flight carrying about 153–160 Palestinian refugees from Gaza landed at Johannesburg’s OR Tambo International Airport, where passengers were initially detained for more than 13 hours due to missing departure stamps, return tickets, and accommodation details.

Despite failing standard immigration checks, South African authorities eventually granted them entry on humanitarian grounds, issuing temporary visas after intervention from the aid group Gift of the Givers, which pledged support for their stay.

The decision sparked political debate, with officials acknowledging irregularities in documentation but emphasising South Africa’s commitment to humanitarian assistance.

However, on Saturday, 6 December 2025, the Department of Home Affairs announced in a statment that: “Following investigations and recommendations by national intelligence structures and consultations conducted within the Security Cluster – which confirmed the deliberate and ongoing abuse of the 90-day visa exemption for Palestinian ordinary passport holders by Israeli actors linked to ’voluntary emigration’ efforts for residents of the Gaza Strip – the Department of Home Affairs has withdrawn the exemption”.

The department said short-stay visa exemptions are a commonly used instrument by countries around the world to incentivise tourism and short-term travel.

“However, investigations into the recent arrival of two charter flights transporting Palestinian passport holders revealed systematic abuse of this exemption, with travel designed not for the purposes of tourism or short-stays as intended, but to relocate Palestinians from Gaza.

“Rather than using ordinary commercial flights, entire airplanes were chartered not by the travellers themselves, but by intermediaries.

“Most passengers were given one-way tickets to South Africa and prohibited from bringing luggage with them, while only being allowed to carry US Dollars and essentials.”

The department said upon their arrival at OR Tambo International Airport, it was further discovered that many of them lacked departure verification and accommodation in South Africa, in addition to not possessing return or onward flight tickets.

“Taken together, this constituted obvious abuse of the exemption by external actors for purposes other than its intended use,” said the statement released by spokesperson Carli Van Wyk.

“This sequence of events also amounted to abuse of the passengers themselves, as those who arranged the flights were apparently content to leave the travellers destitute upon their arrival in South Africa.

“Most of the travellers indicated that they did not want to claim asylum in South Africa, necessitating civil society organisations to take responsibility for their welfare.”

The department said investigations also indicated that the arrival of these charter flights was not intended to be once-off event, but that they may be part of a broader, ongoing effort to relocate Palestinians to other parts of the world.

“This includes reports that a Dubai-based broker, with offices in South Africa, recently requested bulk quotations for more charter flights to commence as soon as possible,” the department said.

In the wake of the withdrawal of the visa exemption, the department said it will duly process any asylum applications submitted by the travellers who arrived on the two charter flights, while upholding the terms of the 90-day exemption for those who do not seek asylum.

The department said going forward, visa applications from bona fide Palestinian travellers will be processed accordingly to enable them to visit South Africa, while any further attempts at abuse will be rejected.

The Minister of Home Affairs, Dr Leon Schreiber, said: “When the most recent charter flight landed at OR Tambo International Airport, President Cyril Ramaphosa indicated that the travellers may have been flushed out of Gaza.

“Subsequent investigations have confirmed this to be the case.

“Withdrawing the visa exemption is the most effective way to prevent further flights of this nature, while ensuring that bona fide travellers from Palestine are safely able to visit South Africa without being subjected to abuse.

“South Africa will not be complicit in any scheme to exploit or displace Palestinians from Gaza.”

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