UK Immigration developments are bearing good news for South Africans

UK’s Red-list hurts SA tourism sector. Image credit: AdobeStock

South Africa may come off UK’s red list as early as Thursday

South Africa has been on the UK’s controversial red list for the past several weeks – but it seems that could soon all change

UK Immigration developments are bearing good news for South Africans

UK’s Red-list hurts SA tourism sector. Image credit: AdobeStock

Some good news for travellers: South Africa could be removed from the United Kingdom’s (UK) contentious red list by the end of the week, a move which will undoubtedly be welcomed by the tourism sector.

The move comes just weeks after the UK announced it was suspending flights to South Africa and its surrounding countries, citing the emergence of the Omicron variant. But things are rather different now – the UK is recording staggeringly high COVID-19 cases from the variant and has just recently reported its first death (also from the Omicron variant).

The UK’s decision to place the country back on its red list was met with much fury from the South African government, but to make things worse was the fact that dozens of other countries followed suit with their own travel bans. This is despite health experts advising the move lacked scientific judgement.

UK AND SA RED LIST SAGA: RACIST OR POLITICAL?

The UK has continued receiving backlash – not just from South Africa, but other nations for its revised red list, with many labelling the move as being racially-motivated. But Peter Attard Montalto, Head of Capital Markets Research at Intellidex reckons it’s a different story.

“In political terms, it was a necessary step… That’s why I have some problems with the hyperbole coming from South African scientists, that it’s racism… This is all down to politics,” Montalto told radio station CapeTalk.

As to when the country can expect to be removed, Montalto said: “It is far from a done deal, unlike some of these press reports, they have been positioning this in the last couple of days. So all fingers crossed, hopefully for Thursday.”

“Britain’s under siege Conservative government is reliably understood to be on the verge of scrapping its stupid red list regulation from South Africa two weeks after its arbitrary installation following our scientists’ identifying of Omicron”

Peter Attard Montalto, Head of Capital Markets Research at Intellidex

In another development, Daily Mail is reporting that the red list, could done away with completely. The publication reports that Transport Secretary Grant Shapps is said to have convinced colleagues it should be replaced with testing for the fully vaccinated.