By Shakerah Bhagalia, mom to 4 beautiful children, guest blogger for Nspired Style providing recipes, loves traveling, endlessly curious about the culinary world and invaluable Jozikids staff member
Whoop Whoop Hurray! In light of the recent interview between Talk Radio 702 and Mkuseli Apleni, director-general for the Department of Home Affairs, we can rejoice at the thought (in the not too distant future) of not lugging an Unabridged Birth Certificate when travelling abroad. And, we can be proud of South Africa for being the trendsetter in this regulation.
Parents will be relieved to know that the new Child’s Passport will now bear the parents details. This eliminates the need to apply for, collect, laminate then carry a file of certificates amongst all other luggage! Whew!
But please read the details below carefully. It is a process that will take some time, especially for those of us whose kids already have passports. Only new passport holders will benefit.
The Process
1. The system is said to go live from the 24th of July.
2. All new children’s (Child’s) passports will be issued with the parents details with a turnaround time of between 5 and 14 working days.
3. NB : Current passports will still have to be accompanied by the Unabridged Birth Certificate, until they expire. Should a parent wish to apply for a new passport, whilst the current is valid, a double fee will be charged.
With the new live capture and online application process well underway, applications are less tedious. Please contact the Department of Home Affairs for any further information.
Medical concerns
As a parent, we are often overly anxious about the health and safety of our kids, at home and abroad. With unheard of diseases on the rise, we would need more than an apple a day to keep the doctor away.
1. Vaccinations for Yellow Fever, Rabies, Malaria, etc are often necessary on visa application and are available at your local travel clinic.
2. Altitude Sickness and Deep Vein Thrombosis is common on long distance travel, and can be prevented with regular movement and in some instances medication. Contact a medical practitioner, for more details and costs.
3. Food and water borne infections often results in hospital stays, either at home or abroad. Good to know:
- Wash hands before eating
- Boil, treat water before drinking
- Cook it, peel it, boil it or Forget It!
- All that glitters is not gold – fruit is often rubbed with a wax to make it look tempting – stay away.
- Rest assured that medical help is available abroad – don’t leave without travel insurance.
Bon Voyage! Looking forward to your travelogue.
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Thank you for this insightful article – my one other question would be is will this old system of “unabridged certificates” fall away now because there are many schools requesting it for there records?
Thanks Bronwen
To my understanding the Unabridged Birth Certificate still serves as the Identity Document of the child, and will thus be required for many other matters especially where FICA documents are required. All this does, is eliminates the need to travel with the document.
Thank you so much for the clarity around unabridged certificates
Regards
So what happens if I have the baby daddy on the certificate but he is not responsible for the child and he doesn’t even see the child on any day, how do I remove him from the Certificate because I do not want to ask him permission regarding the child.
Hi Tebogo
Oi! This can complicate matters. I suggest you get Legal advise, perhaps through your local social services, then present your case to Department of Home Affairs for further assistance. Hope that helps.
We are in the same Whatsapp group Tebogo and my kid always miss out on many things because “daddy ” doesn’t even pick up the phone. He ends up with no consent letter.
Hi Portia
As suggested to Tebogo, you may benefit from chatting to your local social services centre, or legal advisor, for a way forward with this. Good luck!
You would still need an unabridged birth certificate to apply for the new passport so this will NOT eliminate the need to apply and collect the unabridged birth certificate. This is the only type of certificates that is issued since the latter part of 2017 and is not called abridged or unabridged on the certificate self but just “Certificate of Birth” but it comstaines the same info as the previous unabridged birth certificates.
Hi Leon
Thanks for the clarity – really helps!
Ok, so with respect to last minute travel decisions, one would still have to apply for, collect the said Certificate, and travel with it, should you not have one And the Child’s passport is still valid. Whatever, the case – I now understand that the certificate is necessary either way?