Visa laws to ease - children can soon travel with new passports

05 February 2016 - 18:49 By TMG Digital
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Despite a massive visa disaster that severely damaged tourism, Malusi Gigaba has taken no responsibility.
Despite a massive visa disaster that severely damaged tourism, Malusi Gigaba has taken no responsibility.
Image: ALON SKUY

Unabridged birth certificates for child travellers will be done away in the coming months as the Home Affairs department gives way on some of the onerous changes to the controversial visa laws.

The paperwork for children going on school sport tours will also be simplified.

The concessions come after lobbying from the tourism industry and other stakeholders who were concerned the regulations would deter visitors coming to South Africa‚ prompting Cabinet intervention.

The Department of Home Affairs said that within the next three months to one year‚ it would “focus on giving effect to measures” including to “print parents’ details in their passports so that they do not have to carry birth certificates”.

Home Affairs Director-General Mkuseli Apleni‚ in a statement following an update session with Tourism stakeholders in Pretoria‚ said the Department has also developed a standardised template for school principals to complete and issue‚ to confirm permission for South African children to travel on school tours‚ in lieu of individual parent consent forms.

Furthermore‚ “The Department has taken additional steps to facilitate the travel of South African sports teams abroad. In this regard‚ the Department of Sports & Recreation has been consulted and has accordingly provided a list of 75 accredited sports federations.

"Home Affairs has prepared individual letters for the identified sports federations informing them of the agreement between the two Departments to facilitate the travel of sports teams abroad on the basis of an affidavit‚ to be provided by the respective federation.”

Other changes to the immigration regulations on the table for the next three months to one year include:

  • Issuing of visas on arrival for people travelling to South Africa having in their passports valid visas for the UK‚ USA and Canada or any other country that applies stringent checks on visitors to their countries‚ to ease travel for tourists‚
  • Additional visa facilitation centres‚ including in Zimbabwe‚ United Arab Emirates and Botswana‚
  • Consider a visa-waiver for India‚ China‚ Russia and other countries‚ and
  • Open two Business Visa Facilitation Centres in Durban and Port Elizabeth‚ in addition to the centre recently opened in Sandton.
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