Dubai: The South African Consul-General has urged his compatriots to renew their passports at least eight months to one year before their passports expire and for parents of newborns to register their babies as soon as possible to avoid any inconvenience.
Manabile Shogole, head of mission in Dubai, appealed to South Africans in the country to plan their passport renewal well ahead of its expiry since it takes four to six months for a normal passport to be issued from South Africa to Dubai.
“Other people wait until their passports expire on the following day and that very passport has the visa which needs to be renewed in due course. We always tell them to apply in advance, at least eight months in advance to give enough room and chance for the passport to be processed and sent back to the UAE,” Shogole told Gulf News.
“We don’t print passports ourselves here. We receive the applications, process them to ensure that specific areas have been filled in, the information provided is correct, and supporting documents are complete, and so on. Thereafter, we send the applications to South Africa,” he added.
All applications are sent to the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) in Pretoria in a diplomatic bag once a month. So, if passport applications from all the 126 South African missions around the world are factored in, the sheer volume of applications could really affect the time it takes to produce the passports.
In the UAE, there are around 100,000 to 120,000 South Africans working in different sectors such as education, hospitality, health, aviation, and business.
To help their compatriots, Shogole said the mission has allowed some solutions.
“They can apply for those documents [passports] and then contact their families in South Africa. They can write a letter authorising their family member to go, check, and collect their passports on their behalf. But they need to give them the receipt.”
Their family in South Africa can then directly send them their new passports. Courier service can also help speed up the process.
“If they require the document urgently, they can contact any courier service on their own from here. Now with that, at least the gap in the time is shortened.”
Because of the long wait for her newborn’s passport, South African resident G.C., who declined to be identified, said she had to pay Dh2,500 in immigration fines “for not having a visa” for her baby.
“I applied for it in January and I only got it in July. I had to pay penalties because of that,” G.C. told Gulf News. “If you have a newborn, it’s so hard for you to travel and show them to your family because your baby doesn’t have a passport.”
Shogole reminded parents of newborns to register their babies at the consulate as soon as they can.
“Not all newborn applications take so long. Most take up to four months; it could be that G.C.’s case was an isolated one.”
The mission does not provide passport extensions. Those who need to travel on emergency are issued an Emergency Travel Certificate, which gives them a single entry to South Africa.
Timings for passport application and collection at the consulate:
8.30am to 12.30am
Passport application cost: Dh160
Validity: 10 years
Emergency travel certificate cost: Dh60
Time it takes for passport issuance in the UAE: Four to six months
