New SA visa rules for children put on hold
Cape Town – Minister of Home Affairs Malusi Gigaba has announced changes to the implementation of South Africa’s new visa rules.
Speaking at a press briefing in Cape Town Gigaba announced the new requirement of an unabridged birth certificate for all children travelling to and within South Africa’s borders has been postponed until June 1, 2015.
This refers to the requirements that children be in possession of an unabridged birth certificate and have written permission from both parents or guardians authorising the child’s travel.
“We have granted the postponement of these two particular requirements — the unabridged birth certificate and written permission, to June 1, 2015,” Gigaba told reporters at Parliament.
Following are the additional comments made by the minister during the briefing…
*Most elements of the regulations are working well. Many improvements have been effected as a result – Minister Gigaba
*Unabridged birth certificate and passports for children have been highlighted as a particular challenge
*We will continue engaging with stakeholders. Regulations announced are not cast in stone – open to better regulation suggeastions
*It became clear as we were listening to different stakeholders that there was lots of confusion about new regulations
*Officials will be on high alert to ensure all travelling children are authorised to do so during this time
*Children born between 1996 and Feb 2013 will be effected. Parents encouraged to apply well in advance to 1 June 2015
*Doh encouraging parents to register children asap after birth, within 30 days to avoid future hassles
*As for foreign travellers – postponement of these regulations will give doh time to communicate clearly & properly with travel agents etc (News24.com)
Watch Gigaba’s full press briefing below:
