Travelling to South Africa with children - Please read!
Discussion
Just wanted others to be aware of this, as we nearly fell foul of this new legislation, which was introduced just over a year ago and not well publicised!
New requirements, introduced by the South African Department of Home Affairs from 1 June 2015, specify that all minors (children under 18 years) are required to produce, in addition to their passport, an Unabridged Birth Certificate which shows the details of both parents for all international travel to and from South Africa.
So where my situation was interesting is that my 17 year old son was travelling with his grandfather. So they are @ Heathrow check in and clearly would not let him pass, without the following received within 2 hours!:
- A Parental Consent Affidavit (PCA) signed by parents/witnessed stamped/signed by solicitor/Public notary
- Certified copy of my son's birth certificate
- Certified copy of both parents passports, with names matching the birth certificate
My son told me that at least two other families were turned away @ Heathrow for not having this information and potentially had to postpone flights at great costs. Fortunately, as the wife and I were both local, we managed to collate the documentation, scan documents and find a notary, who sent of the documents, literally with 20 minutes to spare before the cut off! It was a great relief..
He had travelled to South Africa some 2 years ago with his grandmother and had no issues, hence why we did not suspect needing this approval in advance.. I hear it is protect against child trafficking.
I suspect this new legislation gets interesting when one parent families travel with kids, as requires both parents permission. I hope this at least helps somebody who was not aware of the situation..
G
New requirements, introduced by the South African Department of Home Affairs from 1 June 2015, specify that all minors (children under 18 years) are required to produce, in addition to their passport, an Unabridged Birth Certificate which shows the details of both parents for all international travel to and from South Africa.
So where my situation was interesting is that my 17 year old son was travelling with his grandfather. So they are @ Heathrow check in and clearly would not let him pass, without the following received within 2 hours!:
- A Parental Consent Affidavit (PCA) signed by parents/witnessed stamped/signed by solicitor/Public notary
- Certified copy of my son's birth certificate
- Certified copy of both parents passports, with names matching the birth certificate
My son told me that at least two other families were turned away @ Heathrow for not having this information and potentially had to postpone flights at great costs. Fortunately, as the wife and I were both local, we managed to collate the documentation, scan documents and find a notary, who sent of the documents, literally with 20 minutes to spare before the cut off! It was a great relief..
He had travelled to South Africa some 2 years ago with his grandmother and had no issues, hence why we did not suspect needing this approval in advance.. I hear it is protect against child trafficking.
I suspect this new legislation gets interesting when one parent families travel with kids, as requires both parents permission. I hope this at least helps somebody who was not aware of the situation..
G
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