Issued by: Department of Home Affairs
The Department of Home Affairs launched the new South African passport with enhanced security features today. The introduction of the new passport ensures the highest possible degree of security and complies with the international norm of machine readability.
The passports, which are computer-generated, will for security reasons, only be issued in Pretoria. Applications will be taken at offices of the Department nationally and abroad. Where there is no office of the Department applications can be taken at magistrate's offices. Domestic offices will forward the applicant's particulars to Pretoria electronically, whilst applications from abroad will be forwarded by diplomatic bag.
The cover material, as well as the paper for the passport are manufactured by companies specialising in the production of material with security features and will only be supplied for the South African passport. The raw material is supplied to the Government Printing Works, Pretoria, which prepares the passport up to its final stage. It then goes to the Department where, within a high security area, the personalisation will take place.
A variety of security features, including invisible fibres, will safeguard the new passport againsars the facial image of Mr Albert Lutuli, the first person from Africa to be awarded a Nobel Peace Prize.
A new development is the children's passport, issued from birth to the age of sixteen. Particulars of minors will no longer be entered on a parent's passport. Endorsements will no longer be allowed on a passport and when marrying, a woman will be to apply for a new passport in her married name.
The Department has also made provision for an emergency 0passport that will only be issued in cases where a person has lost her/his passport abroad or is not in possession of a passport yet and needs to travel urgently because of special circumstances such as death or serious illness. The emergency passport will be valid for one journey only, with stopovers, enabling the person to reach his destination and return.
Holders of existing passports will be allowed to travel with these until expiry of their passports. No necessity exists to replace valid and existing passports.
If the application form is complete in every respect, applications will take on average six weeks from submission to process.
The costs involved for the various passports are as follows:
Tourist passport - R80,00 Child passport - R60,00 Document for Travel Purposes - R60,00 Emergency passport - R50,00 Official passport - Free
Issued by: Subdirectorate COMMUNICATION
DEPARTMENT OF HOME AFFAIRS PRETORIA 22 May 1996