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Renew Sa Childs Passport In Aus


chalmers family

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Hi all,

I just realised that my sons (5 years old) South African passport expires in 3 months time and we are planning a trip to South Africa in about 7 months time... How do I go about renewing his South African passport in Australia? I am clueless!!!!

Please help!!!!

Jackie

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This is a summarised version of the info on the SA High Commission website:

The link to the info is http://www.sahc.org....ortapplications

Passport Requirements (All passport types)

  1. Form BI-73 - Passport application form. Please ensure that the Police certify Section B of the application form - Adult as well as Child applications.
  2. Form BI-529 - Determination of Citizenship Status
  3. Form BI-9 - Although this form is mainly used for ID applications all passport applications of applicants 16 years and older done from abroad MUST include the finger prints. To obtain the BI-9 Finger Print form, please see below.
  4. Form DI-47 - Loss Report: Stolen / Lost Passport. Only if your passport is Stolen or Lost.
  5. A copy of your old / current passport OR identity document OR birth certificate.
  6. A copy of your foreign citizenship certificate and your dual citizenship certificate, if applicable.
  7. Photographs Four (4) clear professionally taken colour photos of full face of applicant, showing only head and shoulders measuring 35mm x 45mm. Include the photos but do not attach them to the form. Have one (1) photo endorsed by the Police/Officer by placing the applicant's name on the reverse side and the signature of the Police/Officer.
  8. If you are a naturalized South African, a copy of your Naturalization Certificate.

Forms may be downloaded from www.sahc.org.au.

Child Passport (person under 16 years) 32 pages 57.00 AUD

Return Postage: Only Australian applications

  • For applications originating from within Australia - a Self-addressed Express or Registered Post Envelope (only one envelope per family).

Postal Address: Only Australian applications

The South African High Commission

State Circle

Yarralumla

ACT

2600

Edited by SANZOZ
  • Like 2
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Oops I forgot its for a 5 year old, you don't need BI-9.

Edited by SANZOZ
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Hi,

Thanks for the info. So I complete the forms for our son, post them to the ACT address and wait.....? What sort of time frame do you think I will be looking at?

Thanks :)

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Hi,

What happens to our sons CURRENT PR visa in his passport that is about to expire - how does it get transferred to the new passport that we are going to apply for?

Thanks...

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Hi,

Thanks for the info. So I complete the forms for our son, post them to the ACT address and wait.....? What sort of time frame do you think I will be looking at?

Thanks :)

Well I sent my husband's application in on 19 December and I called the High Commission yesterday and they do not have it back yet from SA. But she did state that they only sent the application to SA on 13 Jan, which is not the usual case. So ours has been with home affairs for more than 2 months now.

I would say if you want to make 100% sure, get a temporary passport as well - we did that for our son when we travelled to SA when he was only 8 weeks old and we got the passport very quickly, I don't remember exactly how long but not longer than 2 weeks.

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Hi,

What happens to our sons CURRENT PR visa in his passport that is about to expire - how does it get transferred to the new passport that we are going to apply for?

Thanks...

You just made me think! We went through the agent that had done our 457 because we were leaving it really late and didn't want to have hassles. We also ended up being about $500 out of pocket!! They organised getting the visa into my son's temporary passport (it took like a day or 2) and I just checked and we never had the visa evidenced in his permanent passport when it arrived! From doing a quick bit of googling it seems that its fine if you travel with the old passport and the new one together. Obviously you will enter and leave the country on the new passport but the validity of the visa in the old passport still stands. BTW I am talking about a 457 visa but it would work exactly the same I am sure.

I will also need to go and have the visa evidenced in my husband's passport when it arrives so if we get it soon, I will post on this thread and let you know how easy/difficult it was.

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  • 2 months later...

Hi Sanzoz. We're busy filling out the relevant forms for our daughter's passport & have a few questions regarding form BI-529:

Question A.9 - not sure what to write for part b. & c. - we have left SA with the intention of applying for citizenship in Oz.

Question C.7 & D.7 - not sure how to answer? We spent a year in the UK in 1999 & have now been living in Oz since 2008. We have no intention of returning to SA permanently. The UK dates are fine as we can put Holidays as the reason, but not sure what to write for Oz.

Any advice will be appreciated! Thanks.

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I have a question regarding children passport. Can you renew the before they expire?

I am asking because my kids are going for some months to South Africa, and the passport will expire next year,s o when they come back they will probably not have 6 months in their passport.

Will that be a problem to enter Australia?

Does anybody know if I could I renew their passports from here while they are in South h Africa?

Thanks

Andrea

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Might be best to get them done whilst they are in South Africa, Andrea. My mother applied for hers recently and got a new passport within a month.

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Do it tomorrow! The are ridiculously backlogged in SA. I applied to renew my SA passport last year and waited 6 months!!! When I phoned to complain I was informed that I was "lucky" I got it so quickly!!! :stretcher:

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With regards to the pr visa label in the new passport... You won't need or be able to get a new label as Aus has now moved over to e- visas. What you absolutely must do is take the new and old passport to your local DIAC office to get them to transfer the visa details over to the new passport. Remember that, unlike your old SA ID number, your passport number is not unique to you. It changes with each passport you have, so DIAC need to move the visa from the old passport number to the bew passport number. This is a quick and easy process which will only take a few minutes.

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Hi Andrea, you can renew your kids passports before the old ones expire as I did the same for mine and my kids last year. Just make sure you have fingerprints taken at your local police station and submit it with your application form. The police here told me I didn't need to do it and of course, a couple of weeks later the consulate phoned me and told me to have it done which wasted time. But the whole process took 3 months which wasn't too bad. I would be wary about going to SA whilst having the passports renewed because when you come back to Australia your new passport could be processed and with a new passport number you might have hassles re-entering. Phone the consulate directly and just check with them. We also had our visa label transferred at the DIAC office and it was very fast.

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Hi Andrea, you can renew your kids passports before the old ones expire as I did the same for mine and my kids last year. Just make sure you have fingerprints taken at your local police station and submit it with your application form. The police here told me I didn't need to do it and of course, a couple of weeks later the consulate phoned me and told me to have it done which wasted time. But the whole process took 3 months which wasn't too bad. I would be wary about going to SA whilst having the passports renewed because when you come back to Australia your new passport could be processed and with a new passport number you might have hassles re-entering. Phone the consulate directly and just check with them. We also had our visa label transferred at the DIAC office and it was very fast.

Thanks for the reply.My kids are going in two weeks time so they would not e able to have a new passport before they leave.

II am not sure I understand your point. You mean they may have problems entering Australia with a new passport. When I went to get my reentry visa, they had me with my old passport. I validated my visa with my old passport but when I entered Australia I entered with the new one. And now when I went to reentry they could not find me under the new passport. But I just produced my old one and all was fine.

If they come with two passports together, I think they should not have a problem. I think I will phone DIAC.

I am concerned that if I start the renewal here and my kids travel, before they get the passport it may cause problems.

I also just wrote to passportssa.co.za. They helped me with the original passports of my children and he confirmed that he does children passports without you needing to go to Home Affairs. Their fees are 275 per person which is not bad. You just email them parents ID, birth certificates, and a photo of your child taken against a white background and he will process it for you.

He also says that passports renewals should be applied for around 8 months before they expire.

I had done my previous passports with him and had no problems. He used to do the birth certificates at Olivedale clinic and other hospitals.

.

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We're busy filling out the relevant forms for our daughter's passport & have a few questions regarding form BI-529:

Question A.9 - not sure what to write for part b. & c. - we have left SA with the intention of applying for citizenship in Oz.

Question C.7 & D.7 - not sure how to answer? We spent a year in the UK in 1999 & have now been living in Oz since 2008. We have no intention of returning to SA permanently. The UK dates are fine as we can put Holidays as the reason, but not sure what to write for Oz.

Any advice will be appreciated! Thanks.

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Ours took 3 months as well had to do it for my 5-year old in Feb this year.

Edited by Wantbetter
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Question A7. As we are on 175 visa in Australia, I wrote the date we arrived in Australia, put the reason as "parents found work in Australia" and put "N/A" at the date we left to go back to SA, as we are still in Australia.

Question C7 and D7. As we are on 175 visa in Australia, I wrote the date we arrived in Australia, put the reason as "found work in Australia" and put "N/A" at the date we left to go back to SA, as we are still in Australia.

We got ours, so couldn't be too far off.

Edited by Wantbetter
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Hi Wantbetter

Thanks for your reply & help! Much appreciated.

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This is not advice but a bit of a story about service and efficiency. My cousin's mother was Australian and he has never had an Australian passport (I don't think). He thought he'd better get his Aus passport and applied from here in SA (all online) and received his passport 10 days later. How's that for service and efficiency!!!

Having said that, home affairs has become quicker. We applied for our updated passports recently and they arrived in 2 weeks. I don't know how that bodes for people living abroad though.

Just sayin'....

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  • 4 months later...

Hi All!

Thanks for all the info on here! Good to know you have somewhere to turn to in times of need!

Just a quick question, do I include the $57.00 in a postal order form with the application or what?

regards

Natasha

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  • 3 months later...

Do you know if the forms are still the same? I am trying to get onto the website but is struggeling. I did download forms March 2012 but did not fill it in.

I have the 73 and 529 forms, is that all you have to fill in for renewal of child passport?

Thank you

Edited by Kleintjie
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  • 2 weeks later...

We are applying for a passport for my daughter as she doesn't have one, so she is sorted.

However, my husband and I both hold passports that will expire June/July 2015.

We plan to be in Aus by this time.

What I want to know is should we also renew our passports?

Our agent said it is not needed as the VISA's are now electronic.

But what if we need to come back for an emergency (only reason we will travel back) after the passports expired?

Your advice is hugely appreciated...

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