“We’re all going on a summer holiday…” (Cliff Richard)
With the Festive Season (and our Summer Holidays!) well and truly upon us, you may be inviting family or friends to visit you from overseas with their children, or perhaps you are a foreigner planning a family trip to South Africa. Either way here’s some good news in the form of a welcome concession from government in regard to the documentation you will need to produce on entry.
In a nutshell foreign children until now have only been able to enter the country with unabridged birth certificates and consent letters. That requirement was waived – for accompanied children only (check the full details in the table below) – from 8 November 2019.
The Department of Home Affairs (DHA) says it has communicated this very welcome new development to all role players, most importantly to the immigration officials at ports of entry who are tasked with enforcing the rules, but if you do happen to have documentation handy it can’t hurt to bring it along in case of any queries. If you need visas to visit you will anyway have to produce the documents when applying.
South African children (and unaccompanied foreign children) must still provide a list of required supporting documents – see below.
Note that the above is just a summary – it is extremely important that you check the DHA table below for full details, and that you ask your lawyer for help if you think any exemptions may apply, if you have any difficulty in understanding what is required, or if you cannot get the necessary documentation together.
Documents required for children travelling through a port of entry of the Republic
| CATEGORY | SOUTH AFRICAN CHILD | FOREIGN VISA EXEMPT CHILD |
| CHILD ACCOMPANIED BY BOTH PARENTS |
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| CHILD ACCOMPANIED BY ONE PARENT |
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| CHILD TRAVELLING WITH PERSON WHO IS NOT HIS / HER BIOLOGICAL PARENT |
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| UN-ACCOMPANIED CHILD |
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| CHILD IN ALTERNATIVE CARE |
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(Source – Department of Home Affairs)
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