They have not managed to turn water into wine yet but the people at Home Affairs performed miracles when they eradicated the backlog of thousands of applications for unabridged birth certificates ahead of the coming into force today of the controversial new visa regulations. Pulling out all the stops in an effort to process 4200 birth certificates by yesterday, the department was left with only 800 birth certificates left to process.The new regulations, which affect children under 18 travelling out of South Africa, have created a furore.Critics, especially in the tourism industry, slammed the department when it first came up with the new rules last year.An unabridged birth certificate, and affidavits from parents, will be required when only one parent is travelling with a child, and when applying for a visa.When both parents are travelling with valid passports and visas an unabridged birth certificate is not required.The regulations also affect people travelling to South Africa with children from countries in which visas to enter South Africa are needed. They will also need to carry unabridged birth certificates for children.The department claimed that the backlog was due to missing documents .Officials worked yesterday to contact parents or guardians to urge them to submit the missing documents so that they could issue the unabridged birth certificates on time.Home Affairs Department spokesman Mayihlome Tshwete said: "Our staff worked tirelessly to ensure that all unabridged birth certificates were issued. We have cleared the backlog."Parents should apply for unabridged birth certificates for their children even if they don't intend travelling."..