South Africa’s Department of Home Affairs is launching its first “events visa” in order to ease the way for soccer fans planning to visit the country for the 2010 World Cup. As reported by The Sunday Independent, the events visa relies upon a biometric verification technology for controlling travelers’ movements.

This special visa is part of an array of services that will enable South Africa to more effectively track the movement of World Cup spectators through the country’s 72 ports of entry. The nation’s Home Affairs Minister commented: “To contribute to the smooth but secure flow of tens of thousands of international visitors expected to attend the 2010 World Cup tournament, our immigration services . . . will improve traveler screening and use mechanisms that will prevent the entry of undesirable elements. Part of the arsenal for this will be travel document readers, airline liaison officers and the events visa . . . and gathering of intelligence through closer cooperation with other law enforcement agencies, both foreign and domestic.”