SOUTH AFRICA has suspended part of its new immigration regulation requiring parents or adults travelling with children from or to that country to produce affidavits and birth certificates, albeit temporarily.
STAFF REPORTER
According to media reports from the neighbouring country, a requirement for unabridged birth certificates and affidavits authorising permission to travel with children has been postponed until June 2015.
Adults travelling with children had to produce affidavits from parents proving permission for the children to travel, in what authorities said was a way of fighting child trafficking.
“We have granted the postponement of these two particular requirements — the unabridged birth certificate and written permission — to June 1 2015,” South African Home Affairs minister Malusi Gigaba was quoted as saying by the media.
Reports say the requirement for birth certificates had been putting a great deal of pressure on expatriate families, resulting in various online campaigns and petitions.
Other reports said the reason for the extension, however, is thought to be lack of capacity on the part of the Department of Home Affairs that is reportedly struggling to cope with the high demand to produce unabridged birth certificates.
The neighbouring country has been introducing a raft of strict measures to regulate the number of foreigners in that country. Over-stayers are now banned from entering South Africa for a period ranging from one to five years.
