The Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) tasked with reviewing South Africa’s immigration regulations has recommended that accredited travel agents make visa applications for their clients while foreign minors will no longer be required to produce an unabridged birth certificate when travelling to and from SA.
The committee has also recommended that biometric visa applications be made on arrival in South Africa.
The recommendations have been approved by Cabinet.
Speaking to the media as part of a Cabinet briefing on Friday morning, Tourism Minister, Derek Hanekom, said he supported the recommendations and believed they would deal with the issues that the regulations had raised.
The changes mean that foreign national who require a visa for South Africa will not be required to make application in person.
South African children under the age of 18 will still be required to travel with an unabridged birth certificate but the term ‘unabridged birth certificate’ will be changed to ‘birth certificate containing parental details’.
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