How long for Home Affairs to register a birth and issue a child passport?

[Guest]

Hi all,

Asking on behalf of a friend. What is the process here and what timeframe can be expected? Current issue time for a smart card ID and passport (for adults) is approximately one week in CPT (from anecdotal friends and family applications). How would it differ for a newborn?

[LeonH]

Hi @KirstenT,

 

We have just registered our new addition, and:

• For the birth certificate, it is usually issued the same day. It can be a bit of a long story as there is a new form to be stamped and signed by the hospital, obstetrician and pediatrician. If you have the form complete and all your docs in order the UBC should be printed and issued then and there. In our case the printer was broken and we came to collect it 2 weeks later 
• We applied for the passport a few weeks later (this was a mission in itself, because they only do "live capture" photos now and can be tricky with a newborn with no head control!) and it was available for collection 1 week later. I was quite impressed - the D. O. Home Affairs is certainly more efficient than before!

Hope it helps

[Guest]

@LeonH this was exactly what I wanted to know. Much appreciated!