In their present form, draft amendments to South Africa’s immigration regulations will mean no real changes are made to South Africa’s requirements for travelling minors.
This means that children booked on flights to South Africa who do not have an unabridged birth certificate will be denied boarding and the tears at international airports will continue.
The draft amendments are open for comment and can be accessed here. The deadline for comment is October 14.
Whereas the current regulations require children under 18 to travel with an unabridged birth certificate, the draft amendment states that travellers “may” be requested to produce the document: “Where a parent or parents, from a visa-exempt country, who is or are travelling with a child, such parent or parents may be required by an immigration officer to produce the child’s unabridged birth certificate upon admission into or departure from the Republic…”
As far as the aviation industry is concerned, the wording is too vague to effect any change and airlines will continue to ask for the documents, or risk having to carry the costs of repatriating travellers denied entry to South Africa.
Based on the draft amendments, Board of Airline Representatives of South Africa (Barsa) CEO, June Crawford, says the unabridged birth certificate appears still to be required. “In view of this, Barsa will be advising its airlines to ensure that children under the age of 18 carry an unabridged birth certificate.”
Chris Zweigenthal, Chief Executive at the Airlines Association of Southern Africa, also says that based on his reading of the draft he would recommend that travellers bring the documentation as per the original regulations. “I would not take a chance.”
Satsa CEO, David Frost, says the association will be making a submission with the TBCSA and will call for the requirement to carry an unabridged birth certificate to be scrapped. He emphasises that the Department of Home Affairs should not be rewording the requirement but instead scrapping it entirely. He says the requirement is not necessary, emphasising that the correct documents to ensure security are a valid visa and passport, which is what is required by the rest of the world.
Asata CEO, Otto de Vries, also points out that the draft amendment is “vague”. He explains this puts pressure on the airlines, which will understandably continue to require unabridged birth certificates. “When it comes to legal matters, people want clarity.”
