Cape Town - The Minister of Home Affairs, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, has amended the fees for South African passports and travel documents which will cost much more now.
The department said the amended fees were published in Government Gazette No 47256 on October 6, and come into operation on November 1.
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, it said.
The fee changes to passport and travel documents come after a bench-marking exercise with other countries which found that South African tariffs were up to three times lower, it said.
“The decision was also informed by the fact that production costs are much higher than what people are paying for our passports.
This means the government is heavily subsidising passport holders when such a subsidy is not realised for ordinary ID applicants.
“We believe that those 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 we have been doing,” said Motsoaledi.
The department also said that fees payable for the issuing of South African passports and travel documents were last adjusted in 2011.
The fees payable in respect of applications for a South African passport or travel document made within the Republic are as follows:
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:
Cape Times
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