Senareläggning av nya inreseregler för resa till SA med barn

Den 27 augusti skrev vi om de nya reglerna för inresa med barn till SA som skulle ha införts fr o m 1 oktober i år - se det inlägget HÄR. Nu har Home Affairs tack och lov kommit på bättre tankar och skjuter i alla fall upp införandet fram till juni 2015.

Här nedan kan ni läsa ett utdrag från det uttalande som Mr Malusi Gigaba, Minsiter of Home Affairs, gjorde härom dagen (hela hans uttalandet finns att läsa HÄR).

Excerpt from the statement made by the Dept. of Home Affairs on 16 September 2014:
The different stakeholders have drawn our attention to the challenges relating to the new requirements for travelling children, which come into effect on October 1st, 2014, which were instituted to ensure the safety of children, in line with the Children’s Act of 2005 and our own international obligations.

In particular, the stakeholders have highlighted challenges regarding the requirement that all children entering or exiting South Africa be in possession of a passport, an Unabridged Birth Certificate, and written permission from both parents or guardians of the child, authorizing that child’s travel.

While the requirement that all children possess a passport has been implemented successfully, challenges have been raised regarding the requirements for the Unabridged Birth Certificate and written permission.

Stakeholders have alerted us to two main challenges: firstly, of ensuring accurate and timely communication to missions abroad, travel operators, and prospective travellers around the world about the new requirements; and secondly, that parents and those authorized to travel with children have time to obtain the required documentation in time for their travel plans.

It was put to the Department, that while the new regulations are accepted as necessary and are fully supported, due to these challenges mentioned above, and particularly in light of the upcoming peak travel periods for families – that is, December / January for the festive season and April for Easter – a postponement would greatly assist travellers and the sectors as a whole.

The Department has taken this input into consideration, along with our obligation to ensure the safety of children entering and exiting the country. Having taken all of this into account, we have granted a postponement of these two particular requirements – the Unabridged Birth Certificate and written permission to June 1st 2015.

During this postponement, I have directed the DDG: Immigration Services, Mr. Jackie McKay, to work intensively with industry stakeholders to ensure accurate information is available to all prospective travellers accompanying children all around the world, and allow those travellers time to gather the necessary documents.