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Visitor visa needing unabridged birth certificate and processing times to get one


TeamRF

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Hey Guys

My parents have booked tickets to come over at the end of the year and when my mom was getting ready her visa documents, she saw that her birth certificate doesnt have her parent's names on it...however she has a baptism one with their full names on it...so she jetted to Home Afrairs today and applied for an unabridged birth certificate.

Apparently on the visa requirements, a certified birth certificate is needed showing the parents names! Sigh...

Anyone know how long these unabridged birth certificates are taking these days from Home Affairs? Alternatively, can anybody recommend a good company to use to assist with getting it quickly?

Thanks

TeamRF

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They said to us 6-8 weeks. However it may be quicker. You can actually complete a form at home affairs to say that it is urgent in which case they will speed it up. Good luck. Our daughter's one took about 4 weeks.

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Saw the requirement on the list - didn't know it had to be unabridged. Do you have to buy the tickets before you apply for the visa? Asking because we want my parents to come visit around end of November.

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Thanks Theunis, there is still time but if it is delayed it could be tricky!

@qwerty: you need the tickets so they can award the visa for the time you are coming as it would be the 3 month visitor visa.

An unabridged birth certificate is the one that has the parent's name on it...bridged just has their ID numbers. I can understand for children that this is necessary but for pensioners, it just seems a bit silly. I think this is an amended requirement as my mom's twin sister used to travel on her bridged one all of the time!

We have contacted the embassy to hear from them if her bridged is fine with the baptismal certificate (this has both her parents name) but in meanwhile she has applied for the unabridged just to be safe!

I keep reiterating to family and friends back in South Africa to have all their bridged, unabridged, vault copies...whatever you can get! We had such issues with Home Affairs spelling my married surname wrong...all our documents we supplied were correct but someone there did a typo on our surname, so my new ID was incorrect and it took 6 MONTHS to correct it...I phoned them everyday and they didnt seem to understand that we needed it for our Australian visa...they didnt care! Miraculously when I threatened to contact Carte Blanche, it was fixed the next day...so what can I say...I got to Australia and it took 3 days to get my drivers license, 4 days for Medicare and less than a week for bank cards etc...:)

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Unabridged birth certs may be taking a bit longer at the moment due to the new travel requirement (which the last time I investigated had been extended to Sept due to problems obtaining the certificates because of the demand) requiring people to carry unabridged birth certificates when entering/exiting South Africa with children.

Edited by TeeTMI
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Saw the requirement on the list - didn't know it had to be unabridged. Do you have to buy the tickets before you apply for the visa? Asking because we want my parents to come visit around end of November.

Qwerty you should get onto it. The visas take ages. My SIL only got hers the morning they flew to visit us! And she thought she had plenty of time. I can't remember exact dates.

Is this a new thing that all visitors need unabridged? This is really going to be a pain...

Edited by Bronwyn&Co
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We are doing a 3 month visitor visa for the MIL, and were told by the agent that we can only apply for the visa 3 months in advance, so definitely don't leave it too long but there does seem to be a cap on how soon you can do it.

Going to get her to apply for the birth cert so long though as that sounds like a mission waiting to happen

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Unabridged birth certs may be taking a bit longer at the moment due to the new travel requirement (which the last time I investigated had been extended to Sept due to problems obtaining the certificates because of the demand) requiring people to carry unabridged birth certificates when entering/exiting South Africa with children.

I applied for my unabridged birth certificate even before these requirements were announced ... it took 5 months with countless calls to home affairs and dealing with 'senior managers' to get it out of them.

My sister (who lives in the UK) got married in SA at the end of last year ... it took Home Affairs 7 months to produce an unabridged marriage certificate for them!

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A family friend travelled to Oz earlier this year on an SA passport and one of the requirements is an unabridged birth certificate. I would definitely get one. We don't have our visa yet and my folks are already starting to apply for their unabridged birth certificates, in preparation for their tourist visa. So for those who haven't moved over yet and have family who plan on visiting you in Oz, it may be a good idea to start applying for the unabridged birth certificates so now.

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Our's weren't too bad. They told us 4 months - we applied mid April and picked them up about a week ago so about three months BUT in saying that no one phoned us to let us know that they were at the DHA branch. I called the toll free number to follow up and was informed that they were ready and waiting (this is for 3 unabridged birth certs and 1 unabridged marriage cert). My only advice is to phone that toll free line from about 6 weeks after you've sent in your application. They were surprisingly very helpful (hopefully this applies to the whole department and not just the guy that I dealt with :) )

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TeamRF,

We applied for myself and my wife's unabridged birth certificates and lo and behold, it was ready for collection less than 2 weeks later.

Good luck, hope it works out for you guys

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Hi everyone,

we got our unabridged certificates as soon as we realised they were needed to make the move - that was before we even decided on a short visit two months later. We used MICHELLE STEYNBERG from Passport Assist:

Email:mypassportnow@gmail.comWeb: www.passportassist.co.za

It took 2x weeks and her service is fantastic.

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@qwerty: you need the tickets so they can award the visa for the time you are coming as it would be the 3 month visitor visa.

You could check with a travel agent if they can give you a letter which you can use to get the visa, then once you have the visa you can pay for the flights and accommodation.

Visa requirements change all the time, but in the past I have used an agent to give me a letter so I can secure the visa before I pay for my trip. I just feel more comfortable doing that.

Remember for Australia they want you to arrive, spend a lot of money and then leave. Visitor visas are money making scheme for Australia.

Its the same reason Australians can go to most countries in the world quite easily. Aussies generally bring a lot of $$$. Also, If an Aussie gets sick or does something else that will cost the country money, the Australian embassy/consulate will sort it out quickly. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visa_requirements_for_Australian_citizens points out, Aussies can go to RSA (and many other countries) with no Visa.

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Hi,

We lodged our visitors visa 2 weeks ago at the Visa application centre (VAC) in Pretoria. On the documentation checklist they only asked for birth certificate and didn't specify, don't know if that changed since then. Fortunately we had the unabridged one, if that was required.

Regarding the flight tickets, you do not have to book the tickets before applying for the visitors visa. The lady at the visa application centre where we applied actually told us to wait before booking tickets. First get the visa granted.

This morning I saw on the Australian High Commission's website that you can actually lodge a visitor visa online from South Africa now. We had to pay not only for the visa itself but an extra R530 each at the VAC to lodge our applications! Grrrr!! <_<

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