THE requirement for children under
the age of 18 travelling to, from
and through SA to produce an
unabridged birth certificate has been
postponed until June 1, 2015. Similarly,
the additional requirement for written
permission in instances where children
travel unaccompanied or with only one
parent has been postponed.
This was announced by Minister of
Home Affairs, Malusi Gigaba, at a
media briefing last week and follows
sustained exposure of the unintended
consequences by TNW and other trade
press. Malusi stated: “For foreigners’
purposes, an unabridged birth
certificate is merely a birth certificate
from the responsible authority in their
country, which lists the particulars of
the child’s parents. In the instance
where this information is contained on
the child’s passport, this too shall be
accepted.
“It is important to note that the
implementation of the regulations
should not affect SA children born
from March 3, 2013 onwards as the
department began issuing unabridged
birth certificates on the spot for those
children whose births were registered
from that date,” said Malusi. “The
postponement, as well as today’s
statement, is aimed at encouraging
citizens to apply well in advance and
obtain the required unabridged birth
certificates for the minors and children
they intend travelling with.”
He added that parents applying
for passports for minors would be
encouraged, when making their
applications, to apply for unabridged
birth certificates.
The immigration regulations are
part of the new Immigration
Amendment Act, which came into
effect on May 26. Subsequent to
industry lobbying, the requirements
for children travelling under the age
of 18 were postponed till October 1.
Implementation of these regulations
has now been further delayed.
Under the new regulations, people
travelling to SA on a visa are required
to apply for the visa in person. Parents
travelling with children under the age
of 18 are required to produce an
unabridged birth certificate for each
child. In the case where only one
parent is travelling with the child(ren),
consent in the form of an affidavit from
the other parent registered is required.
Alternatively, either a court order
granting full parental responsibilities
and rights or a death certificate of the
other parent must be produced.
Malusi said that, given the challenges
identified by stakeholders and in light
of the upcoming peak travel periods
for families, a postponement of the
regulations would assist travellers and
the sectors as a whole. He added that
during the period of the postponement,
deputy director general for Immigration
Services, Jackie Mckay, had been
directed to work intensively with
industry stakeholders to ensure
accurate information was available
to all prospective travellers
accompanying children around
the world.
According to Malusi, other
regulations published as
part of the Act would remain
in effect. This includes the
requirement that people apply
for visas in person to enable
the capturing of biometrics.
He emphasised that this
requirement was not unique
to SA and was required from
visitors to other countries.
“Most elements of the
regulations are working well.
“Since the announcement
of the new regulations, we
have consistently maintained
that we welcome constructive
engagement from stakeholders
on the implementation of
these regulations. We thank
those stakeholders who
have engaged us actively
and constructively.” Malusi
added that the information
provided by stakeholders
assisted the Department of
Home Affairs (DHA) to service
nationals, visitors and various
stakeholders more efficiently.
He said different
stakeholders had drawn
the department’s attention
to challenges around the
requirements for child
travellers. “Stakeholders
have alerted us to two
main challenges. Firstly, of
ensuring accurate and timely
communication to missions
abroad, travel operators and
prospective travellers around
the world about the new
requirements.”
He said the second
challenge identified was that
parents and people authorised
to travel with children needed
time to obtain the required
documentation.
He added, furthermore,
that subsequent to the
meeting between the DHA
and the Department of
Tourism, as well as Minister
of Tourism Derek Hanekom,
the department had met with
various stakeholders and had
announced the formation of a
joint task team, which would
enable ongoing engagement.
“We are enormously pleased
with the establishment of this
task team and trust that its
industry representatives will
bring invaluable perspectives
and information on the tourism
and travel sector and help us
improve communication with
their clients and the sector as
a whole.”
Malusi’s announcement
follows a meeting with industry
associations, including Iata,
Asata and the TBCSA.
Industry associations –
including SATSA, Barsa, Asata
and Iata – have spent the
past two months actively
lobbying for a postponement
of the new regulations to
allow time for them to be
effectively communicated and
systematically implemented.
The postponement has
been welcomed by industry
associations.
“We are grateful to have had
the opportunity to address our
concerns with Minister Gigaba
regarding the impact of these
new immigration regulations
and pleased that these
concerns have been heard and
reacted to in this way,” said
Asata ceo, Otto de Vries. “We
look forward to engaging with
the department over the next
few months to find a suitable
solution for all parties involved,
including the appointment of
a joint government industry
task team that will work to
fully understand the objectives,
identify international best
practice and how these
should be implemented
effectively for SA.
