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SA Passports - 6 to 12 months?!


DXB2OZ

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wow. my word. theyre even stopping people at the border. Nomad, thats quite unfortunate, I feel for you. 

 

I've had over a decade of experience dealing with the high commission here. They are rude and not helpful. ink based fingerprint stipulation throws of the locals here. 

 

I renewed my passport in SA to avoid all this nonsense after going through it in 2008. Despite standing in a home affairs queue for about 5 hours, i got my sa passport in less than 5 working days!

 

home affairs has 2 rules, one for expats (hence the delay) and one for people living in SA. The staff at home affairs tell me that the oz home affairs are unhelpful as they are foreign nationals working for the embassy, not ZA citizens. 

Edited by new2forum
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... and what is a 'Naturalization Certificate' that they talk about on the website??? 

 

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  • 1 month later...

Thought i'd just post an update - I used my british passport to enter the country and they let me in no hassle. All they did was ask what the purpose of my visit was, and when I was planning to leave. 

 

Will see if they have anything to say when I leave... I doubt it. 

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On 2/24/2018 at 7:32 PM, new2forum said:

good evening. there are no fees to be incurred apart from the prescribed passport fee.

 

unfortunately with these "workers" at the consulate, you can try to give them a call...and see what happens.

 

 

 

 

This is true. They are spectacularly unhelpful. My own experience has been them either picking up the phone and dropping it down straight away, or you get the recorded message telling you to phone during business hours...at 10am on a weekday 🙀 

 

Sometimes you get lucky and someone competent answers. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

They even let me leave with no comment... not sure if I'd chance it again but they seemed fine with me using my UK passport... just don't tell them anything when you arrive/leave. Just hand them the passport, but don't mention any information about the fact you're waiting for an SA passport to be renewed. I think the customs officials would actually need to be competent to pick up that you are an SA citizen. 

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On 10/15/2018 at 9:10 AM, Bonny said:

This is true. They are spectacularly unhelpful. My own experience has been them either picking up the phone and dropping it down straight away, or you get the recorded message telling you to phone during business hours...at 10am on a weekday 🙀 

 

Sometimes you get lucky and someone competent answers. 

 

I have been there in person a few times and was always dealt with courteously and promptly.

 

That said - I renounced RSA citizenship last year and am still waiting for a piece of paper with a non-citizen ID number or anything.

 

If I DID somehow want to go to RSA, I'd go on the Aussie passport, and they really wouldn't have a clue since I was born in one of the British colonies higher up.

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I applied for my children's new passports through Canberra in mid May, nothing so far after 5 months so watch this space, will let you know how long it takes. My daughters passport expires in July 2019 and that's why I applied so early. Not so sure it was early after all.

 

When I asked Canberra recently when I could anticipate receiving the passports they said I must email the Department of Home Affairs directly at  hacc@dha.gov.za as Canberra are unable to track them!

 

No surprises then!

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An update to my email yesterday. My daughters passport has been received in Canberra, great news, so just over 5 months from when the application left Canberra to Home Affairs in RSA and returned. My son's passport will take longer as it is his first adult passport (with fingerprints needing uploading, apparently).

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Well hopefully that means there's hope that it won't take an entire year for them to achieve the monumental feat of issuing me with a new SA passport. 

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On 10/29/2018 at 4:29 PM, OubaasDik said:

 

That said - I renounced RSA citizenship last year and am still waiting for a piece of paper with a non-citizen ID number or anything.

Oubaas are you thinking of running for Australian parliament? 😋

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On 11/2/2018 at 6:47 PM, Bonny said:

Oubaas are you thinking of running for Australian parliament? 😋

 

That's what I said when I went in - some giggling and a number of blank looks. I don't make Dad jokes to amuse others, but to amuse myself, and I was amused ....   :)

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By a wild coincidence, I received an envelope from the High Commission yesterday and wondered at the standard of staff they hired. The writing of my address was borderline illiterate, and I was amazed that this showed the falling standards of staff in the RSA civil service, until I realised it was MY handwriting.

 

Yup - I'm not South African in any way any more. If I go to RSA in a few weeks and get arrested and abused by  the government, Australia will do an Entebbe raid to save me the shame of having threadbare blankets or having to share a cell wit someone who insists on keeping the toilet seat up or down or whatever I don't want - YAY, Australia!!!!!

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On 11/1/2018 at 6:33 PM, Donovan83 said:

Well hopefully that means there's hope that it won't take an entire year for them to achieve the monumental feat of issuing me with a new SA passport. 

 

Tchah, Donovan - at least you aren't in Melbourne. That did seem to be your biggest problem a few months ago ...    :D

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13 hours ago, OubaasDik said:

 

Tchah, Donovan - at least you aren't in Melbourne. That did seem to be your biggest problem a few months ago ...    :D

 

Yeah it really was hey! I've been back in Perth for almost 2 years now and I've never once looked back. Funny how some places just don't 'gel' well for some people. 

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3 hours ago, Donovan83 said:

 

Yeah it really was hey! I've been back in Perth for almost 2 years now and I've never once looked back. Funny how some places just don't 'gel' well for some people. 

 

That long?

 

Time really does fly past.

 

I know what you mean - I didn't like Melbourne either, very much. I've been in Canberra for 6 years now and I don't like Perth much anymore either ...

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Hi folks, It's been a while. Quick question on applying for a child passport from Australia. My daughter is 9 years old and became an Aussie citizen in June, which means she automatically retains her SA citizenship. Do we need to include her citizenship certificate with the passport application (she obviously doesn't have a dual citizenship certificate like we do)? Thanks!

Edited by qwerty
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  • 3 weeks later...

hi yes you do have to include the certificate, attached to the determination of citizenship status form. 

 

it takes about 6+ months. did you submit the application?

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  • 4 months later...

What are the wait times  people experiencing recently? We have less than 7 months to renew an expired passport. 

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  • 4 weeks later...

We sent through applications for 3 new passports (1x adult and 2x child) on 25th March 2019. Still waiting, although to be fair, it has only just passed the 2 month mark.

 

 

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  • 2 months later...

I applied for a new SA passport in December 2018. Got it about 2 weeks ago. 

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My daughter's child passport had expired, so I applied for renewal in Oct18 (she was turning 16 in Mar19) naively thinking it would be sufficient time. Got a letter back from Home Affairs last month saying she needs to apply for an adult passport. We were hoping to plan a trip back at end of the year. Anybody know if there's a quick way to get an "emergency" passport? The quotes are intentional....

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For first adult passport it takes about a year because they have to do fingerprints, etc, my son went through the same last year. Only the consulate could tell you about emergency passports, not sure exactly

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On 7/29/2019 at 4:52 PM, ronfire said:

I applied for a new SA passport in December 2018. Got it about 2 weeks ago. 

Does anyone know if someone else can collect my South African passport for me from a Home Affairs office in South Africa or not? On official website the information is from 2016 and I have heard you now have to go in person to collect as they use your thumb print to release passport to you personally. 

Anybody had recent experience with this? You used to be able to send someone with a letter and your ID. 

Thx 

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