Not for a visit. Since 1 November 2023 Ghana and South Africa have let each other’s ordinary passport holders in without a visa, for up to 90 days in total in any twelve months.
What the waiver covers
Holidays, family visits, conferences and business meetings: the purposes of a visitor. You show your passport at the airport and are stamped in.
It does not cover:
- Working, even briefly
- Studying on a course that needs a study visa
- Living there, or any stay under South Africa’s other visa categories in sections 13 to 24 of its Immigration Act, 2002
- Visits past the 90 days. The days add up across trips. Two trips of 50 days in one year is 100, and the second trip needs a visa. Count from your entry and exit stamps.
What to carry
- A passport valid for at least 30 days after you plan to leave South Africa, with at least two blank pages
- Your return or onward ticket
- Where you will stay, and enough money for the trip
- Your yellow fever certificate. South Africa asks for one from travellers arriving from countries with yellow fever, which includes Ghana, and turns away those without it. — Vaccines and the yellow fever card
Travelling with a child
South Africa has been strict about children crossing its borders. Carry the child’s birth certificate and, if one parent is not travelling, a letter of consent from that parent, and check with the airline what it will ask for before you fly. — Getting a birth certificate
Going the other way
South Africans need no visa for Ghana either, under the same agreement, as African Union nationals. They still register for Ghana’s free electronic travel authorisation before flying. — Ghanaian visas and entry requirements
— Countries Ghanaians can visit without a visa — Flying out of Accra