# Need help with SA passport PLEASE!!!



## debsnmichael (May 10, 2010)

Hi, please can anyone help me? this is a long one... so sit back!! Emmigrated to SA with my folks in 1982 turned 13 whilst there, was given citizenship through naturalisation, however had permanent residence stamped in my passport. Benn backward and forward for the last 28 years no problem at all. Allways had my permenent residence in my passport, but my ID book allways stated non SA citizen, queried this about 5 times in the last 10 years and had 2 ID books issued as SA citizen which got lost in the post? or where never sent! Anyhow last year was over in SA for another 6 month so tried again for the barcode ID book and yeehaa!! it arrived!!!! Since then my husband and I have decided to move back permanently, so i applied for a relative visa for him and this was issued last week no problem, but now I have a problem!! I have always used my british passport as the permanent residence was stamped in it and my old ID book said non sa citizen, but now i have the new SA ID book i am not allowed to travel into SA on my british passport!! So i go online to see about an SA passport, turn around time is 4 month!! we sold our house , booked our flights, pickfords, pets the lot and go at the end of august!! 3 months!!! so thats the first problem, the second is all these certified legalised copies? So i thought i will apply for a full passport and a temp one incase it not here in time, so i need, 2 legalised marriage certificats, 2 legalised birth cert, and 2 legalised naturalisation cert, for each passport!!! thats 12 copies, and these can not be from the registrar but from another government office in london at a cost of £30 each!! so its going to cost £360 for legalisation of copies, plus the original copies a £6 each for marriage and birth, so a further £24? Can this be right? also fingerprint forms, apply in the post then get them done at local police station, one set for each passport!!! cost of the police is £65 each so another £130!! so with the cost of the passports too and the post this is going to cost me over £700? surely this cant be correct, i have rang home affairs, £1 a minute and been on hold for 14 minutes before i put the phone down!!! Please help, my husbands visa was so easy, yet im the citizen and cant go home!!!!
debs,


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## Suki (Jan 23, 2008)

Dont worry about the full passport right now as that can take longer than 4 months. Just apply for your temporary passport now and apply for your full SA passport once you are there. If you go to apply directly at South Africa House in London you wont need the certified copies. Take all the necessary photocopies along with the original documents and they will compare and certify the copies there. Depending where you are travelling from, the travel costs and other expenses may be cheaper than having to get all the documents certified at £30 per document. They also do all the fingerprinting right there. Plus you will have the peace of mind that they actually received your application. 

If all else fails you could probably enter on your British Passport with the permanent residence stamp in it without any problems just as you have been doing in the past. I doubt they will punch your name in the computer and suddenly see a note that you are now a South African citizen. You have permanent residence so I think thats all immigration will worry about. If you have a problem you might have to show the immigration officer your SA ID together with your receipt of application for a South African passport. But I really cant see any huge problems. I think South Africans travelling on foreign passports just get hassles if it states in their passport that they were born in South Africa.


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