No more temporary passports

The Department of
Home Affairs will
no longer issue
temporary passports
from September 1.
A circular from the DHA
states that SA citizens
have been refused
entry into a number of
countries when travelling
on temporary passports.
“This has resulted in
accusations and claims
against the department
in cases where citizens
are refused entry into a
particular country, despite
the department having
issued the temporary
passport.
“Temporary passports
have been abused for
corruption purposes and
this threat remains, which
puts South Africa at risk
of its travel documents
being unreliable and not
trustworthy. Elimination of
temporary passports aims
to remove this risk.”
The DHA added that
temporary passports were
initially issued as an
interim travel document
due to longer turn-around
times taken to issue
a permanent tourist
passport. “This turnaround
time has improved
drastically rendering
issuance of temporary
passports redundant.”
Only an Emergency Travel
Certificate (ETC) will be
issued to an applicant
under circumstances
of emergency travel
purposes. 