Caveat

Before a person can legally travel to another country, certain
formalities must be observed. Compliance with any country's
immigration "red tape" requirements is critical -- these officials
take themselves very seriously and have certain powers -- they can
(and do) simply refuse to let you into the country. And they can force
the airline responsible for transporting you to the border to return
you to the country of origin. In our experience, these are not people
to be messed with because they can make your life instantly miserable.

For Americans intending to enter South Africa, a passport is
necessary, but the prior obtaining of a visa is not. From our Internet
and guidebook readings, it was also our understanding that South
Africa was quite strict about certain other requirements. The problem
comes in understanding exactly what is required, and how strictly
these rules are enforced. To gain insight on this subject, we
consulted all the sources we could think of -- travel agents, official
websites, airlines, guidebooks, and this newsgroup.

In so doing, we found some odd (to us) things. For instance, we
learned that visitors are routinely turned back at the South African
Immigration desk upon arrival if they do not have two fully blank visa
pages in their passports. If we met that requirement, we were told
that we would be issued a temporary visa that would expire on the date
shown on our return trip airline ticket. If one didn't have a return
ticket, the traveler would be required to post a cash bond to insure
the ability to leave the country, plus show sufficient funds to pay
for the visit within South Africa.

In fact, all but the blank-page requirement was ignored when we
arrived in South Africa. We were issued 90-day temporary resident
permits and no one asked to see either airline tickets or proof
available funds. This was correctly predicted by people in this group.

At the American Express Travel center here in Phoenix, we were also
told (by the senior travel counselor) that the surname on the airline
ticket must match the name on the passport -- a past problem with
people whose married name did not match their pre-marriage surname
shown on their passport (which is obtained from birth records). We
were also informed that first name nicknames were not to be used, but
that initials *were* acceptable (this later became a major issue, and
was a subject of my first post to this group).

And that is the subject of the next part in this series...