South Africa: passport and entry requirements
South Africa is visa-free for UK families. Each passport's validity is counted from the day you leave the country rather than the day you arrive, which is easy to misjudge, and there are extra document rules for children travelling without both parents.
Your passport
Each passport needs to be valid for at least 30 days after the date you leave the country, not the date you arrive. It also needs at least two blank pages for entry stamps.
Work this out for every passport when you book. Children's are the ones most likely to be close to expiry, so check early and leave time to renew any that fall short.
Getting in
UK passport holders can visit visa-free for up to 90 days, with nothing to arrange online before you fly. Each traveller is covered on their own passport, children included.
A yellow fever certificate only comes into it if you're arriving from a country where the disease is a risk, not on a direct flight from the UK. If you're combining South Africa with another African country on the same trip, that's the point to check the travel health guidance for your route.
Every child needs their own passport, from the very youngest, meeting the same 30-day-after-departure rule and two-blank-pages requirement as the adults'.
Travelling with under-18s
South Africa sets its own rules for children arriving in the country, run by its Department of Home Affairs, and they go beyond the passport check. Every child needs their own valid passport, and a child travelling with both parents needs nothing more than that. When a child travels with only one parent, or with an adult who isn't a parent, extra documents come into play, such as a birth certificate or a signed consent letter from the parent who isn't there.
The Department of Home Affairs sets exactly which documents apply in those cases, and this is the detail most likely to change. Read its guidance, linked below, when you're planning a trip where a child travels without both parents. Carrying a birth certificate is a sensible precaution in any case.
Official sources
Last checked 11 August 2026. Passport and entry rules change, so always confirm on GOV.UK before you book or travel.
