Johannesburg - The Department of Home Affairs has announced that the Minister of Home Affairs, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, has amended the fees for South African passports and travel documents. This is in terms of section 4(1)(e) of the South African Passports and Travel Documents Act, 1994 (Act No. 4 of 1994), and in consultation with the Minister of Finance.
The Department said the amended fees, which were published in Government Gazette No. 47256 (attached) on October 06, 2022, would come into operation on November 1, 2022.
"Section 4(1)(e) of the South African Passports and Travel Documents Act, 1994, enables the Minister of Home Affairs to make regulations regarding the fees payable for the issuance of a South African Passport or Travel Document, in consultation with the Minister of Finance.
"The changes to passport and travel document fees were informed by the outcome of a bench-marking exercise with other countries, which found that our tariffs were up to three times lower," said the department.
The department said the decision was also informed by the fact that production costs are much higher than what people are paying for our passports.
This, according to the department, means the government is heavily subsidising passport holders when such a subsidy is not realised for ordinary ID applicants.
Motsoaledi said the department believed that the people who are able to travel out of the country are financially better off than ordinary citizens, and they don’t need to be subsidised in the manner they have been doing.
"Once more, we wish to advise our people that there is nothing called an emergency passport. The emergency travel certificate mentioned above is a document available only to South Africans stranded abroad.
"It helps them to come back home, and when they arrive, the usefulness of the document lapses. There is no emergency travel certificate for South Africans who need to travel abroad,", said Motsoaledi.
The fees payable for the issuing of South African passports and travel documents were last adjusted in 2011. There are different fees for applications made in South Africa and those coming from abroad.
The fees payable in respect of applications for a South African passport or travel document made within the Republic are as follows:
- Adult passports cost R600 for 32 pages (current fee R400) and R1200 for 48 pages (maxi, current fee R800)
- R600 (current fee of R400) for a child passport
- R600 for an official passport (currently free)
- R600 for a diplomatic passport (currently free)
- R600 for a travel document for travel purposes (current fee, R300)
- R600 for a crew member certificate (current fee, R350)
The fees payable in respect of applications for a South African passport or travel document made outside of the Republic, at missions, Embassies or Consulates, are as follows:
- Adult passports cost R1 200 for 32 pages (current fee R400) and R2 400 for 48 pages (current fee R800)
- R1 200 (current fee R400) for a child passport
- R140 for an emergency travel certificate (current fee R140)