South Africa to stop issuing temporary passports

South Africa’s Department of Home Affairs has said it will no longer issue Temporary Passports from 1st September 2014.

A Temporary Passport was initially issued as an interim travel document due to longer turn-around times taken to issue a Permanent Tourist Passport valid for ten years. This turn-around time has improved drastically, rendering the issuance of Temporary Passports redundant, the Department said.

The turn-around time for a passport applied for on the Department of Home Affairs’ Live Capture system takes 13 days while that applied for using the manual system is issued within 24 days.

The Department however, confirmed that it will continue to issue Emergency Travel Certificates (ETCs) under circumstances of emergency travel purposes such as when a passport is lost while abroad; and while traveling to countries that accept ETCs for purposes of assisting family members in distress or if a family member is deceased.

The ETCs are issued on the same day in consideration of the nature of circumstances presented as an emergency need.