Visa fee for South Africans

Press, 1 April 1985, Page 5

Visa fee for South Africans

PA Wellington South African nationals will now have to pay to get visas to visit New Zealand, said the Minister of Immigration, Mr Burke, yesterday. From today, the service whereby visas were obtained at the expense of the New Zealand Government would no longer be provided, he said. The bulk of visas issued to South Africans visiting New Zealand have up to now been issued by British consular posts in South Africa. The British Government levies a charge to the New Zealand Government

which came to about $40,000 in 1981, $29,000 in 1982, and $31,000 in 1983. Mr Burke said that the British Government would now charge South African applicants a visa fee. Since 1964, a reciprocal arrangement had existed by which nationals of both countries could obtain visas free of charge to visit the other’s country for up to three months.

“The change could well result in New Zealand citizens being charged for visas to enter South Africa but the Government has decided that it can no longer accept the situation whereby the New Zealand taxpayer sub-

sidised the cost of South Africans visiting our country,” he said. Until now, South African visitors had enjoyed particular advantages over nationals of some other nonCommonwealth countries who must pay fees. It became necessary to remove that anomaly, Mr Burke said.

He also emphasised that the measure was purely a technical one and that it was not expected there would be any significant adverse impact on tourism to New Zealand because of the change. Mr Burke said that in addition the New Zealand

Government no longer recognised Rhodesian passports issued before independence as valid entry to this country. The Zimbabwean Government has already invalidated pre-independence passports and the action of the New Zealand Government is simply following similar moves taken by some other countries.

“People now resident in New Zealand with Rhodesian documents and who are intending to travel overseas would be well advised to explore the possibility of obtaining new travel documents,” Mr Burke said.