SOUTH African minors
will not benefit from an
intention to change the
immigration regulations
announced on July 24
by Derek Hanekom, SA
Minister of Tourism.
In a video recording
broadcast at the Satsa
conference on July 24,
the Minister said Cabinet
had agreed that, in the
interests of encouraging
families to tour SA,
foreign minors would be
treated differently when
they crossed SA’s borders.
A person close to the
Department of Tourism,
said that, although
there had been mixed.
messages coming out of
the Department of Home
Affairs, the plan was that
foreign minors who were
accompanied by both
parents would not have to
carry birth certificates.
Only in cases of those
not accompanied by
both parents might the
immigration officer require
such documentation.
But for South African
minors, a new passport
system is being introduced
where the names of both
parents are included in
a minor’s passport. SA
minors without the new
passport will need to
continue to carry a birth
certificate with the names
of both parents.
The new passport was
first announced in 2016,
but the DHA hasn’t made
progress in rolling this
out.
India, which tried the
system of listing both
parents’ names in
children’s passports, has
responded to women’s
lobby groups and recently
announced that it was
discontinuing the practice.
Otto de Vries, ceo of
Asata, said that having
different rules in place
made no sense. “How
can you have different
sets of rules that apply to
different nationalities?”
he asked. “Best practice
is best practice, so surely
that should be consistent,
regardless of whether the
children are South African
or not.”
From an inbound
perspective, Otto also
cautioned that, as the
requirement for minors to
travel with UBCs had been
in place for three years,
any change in regulations
would likely only confuse
the market and some
airlines could continue to
require unabridged birth
certificates for minors
before boarding them.
