SARS Travel Pass: Here’s what it means for travellers…

The South African Revenue Services (SARS) has issued a statement regarding some of the confusion about their new Travel Pass.

Travel Pass panic

SARS has cleared up some of the confusion regarding the introduction of their controversial Travel Pass, after it caused widespread panic in the travel and tourism industry recently.

As per Travel News, the Revenue Service claimed that the new system is being piloted to digitise the process of voluntarily declaring goods or cash upon entering or leaving South Africa.

The new project is part of a South African Traveller Management System (SATMS), which is designed to modernise customs procedures. 

In their statement on Thursday, 20 October, SARS said that new system would allow travellers to pre-declare goods ahead of arrival.

“SARS will launch a pilot implementation of an electronic online portal for travellers to make declarations on a voluntary basis, well ahead of their arrival or departure to/from South Africa. The new system will allow travellers to pre-declare goods purchased, received, or otherwise acquired,” the statement revealed.

“The new online traveller declaration system will, during the pilot phase, be fine-tuned based on insights gained as well as further engagement and feedback with various government departments and other stakeholders,” SARS said. 

Implementation

The pilot will be launched at King Shaka International Airport on 1 November 2022, and upon the success of this pilot, progressive implementation across all South African ports of entry will begin on 1 April 2023. 

SARS will also make a physical paper form available, as well as self-service counters for travellers who choose not to make use of the online portal on their mobile devices.

The Revenue Service also said that travellers who don’t submit pre-declarations will still be allowed to enter or leave South Africa, but “are encouraged to voluntarily declare pre-departure or arrival to avoid the inconvenience of making a declaration at a port of entry”.

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