My Sunday Photo - Documents for Dubai

My week has involved a flight from Johannesburg to Birmingham with a 7 hour stop over in Dubai arriving late Monday night.

Tuesday morning I was in Newport making a passport renewal application for my son, the new passport arrived Thursday.

On Friday morning our GRO copies of birth certificates and marriage licence arrived in Monmouth and Friday evening I drove to Bath to collect hubbies replacement driving licence.

On Monday I shall be seeing a solicitor to have certified copies made of all the above plus our degree certificates and then posting them all to the Foreign Office for verification, I will then be driving back to Birmingham to collect hubby from the airport.

Once that all arrives back it's off to the UAE Embassy in London for them all to be attested, then we fly to Dubai to submit the paperwork for work and residency visas.

On my return to South Africa I have to oversea the packing and shipping of our household goods and obtain export papers for the cat and dog, collect the children from OR Tambo Airport and on December 15th we all move to Dubai. Hubby is staying in Dubai while the applications are processed.

In between all of this, hubby and I are hoping that we can just rest while waiting for our papers to be returned and I hope next weeks My Sunday Photo will be a little more exciting.

New regulations for unaccompanied minors entering and leaving South Africa

How to get through South African Immigration as a child.

Despite having a visa issued by the South African Embassy in London in 2011 and renewed in South Africa in December 2013 there are 3 different procedures to follow here and the only thing I know for sure is that whether a child travels with their parents or on their own, they must carry an unabridged birth certificate with them.

Travelling with one parent, then a letter from the other parent and the birth certificate to state this person has permission to fly with their child. In the case of a desceased parent then the death certificate must be carried and in the case where the other parent is absent and cannot give permission then a court order is needed.

But what happens if the child is travelling on their own, is over 15 and the airline allows unaccompanied minors on their flight and the parents are divorced, the mother has a new surname and there is no court order because the parents never questioned custody?

Having spent most of the week on the internet and telephone I am still none the wiser as to whether the suggestions I received from the South African Immigration website, British High Commission and Deloitte should suffice.

I’m afraid ‘should suffice’ is not enough for me or my son. He arrives in SA with British Airways on July 27^th. I have the following documents as recommended which have been certified at SAPS (police) and will be sending them via DHL once I’ve been given clearance from immigration.

An unaccompanied child must carry with them the following:

Birth Certificate (unabridged) which actually reads on the bottom

‘WARNING: THIS CERTIFICATE IS NOT EVIDENCE OF THE IDENITY OF THE PERSON PRESENTING IT’

A letter from me with contact details stating I am the person collecting him.

A letter from me giving permission for him to enter and then leave SA.

A copy of my passport.

A copy of my divorce certificate and new marriage certificate to prove my name on his birth certificate and how it links with my passport now.

A letter from his father that needs witnessing by a solicitor to give permission for his son to visit me in SA and a separate letter to give permission for his son to leave SA and return to the UK.

I took these documents to OR Tambo airport today to speak with immigration directly to ensure these documents will suffice. The staff, via the twitter account @ortambo_int, were amazing, making phone calls, visiting immigration where I couldn't access, explaining my dilemma then phoning me back to direct me to where I needed to be. I was told my documents were good and son will clear immigration when he presents them, but due to the confusion the new law this has now been postponed until October.

I’m sure there is an easier way, but I can’t find one. My 15 year old is more than capable of travelling half way round the world on his own, finding the right gate etc, but I’m not sure if he’s equipped to deal with immigration after a 12 hour flight.



UPDATE after contacting British Airways who son is flying with. Taken from Foreign Travel Advice.

Even BA can't confirm what travel documents my son would need after October 1st but believe it would be best for him to travel with the following after highlighting the fact that have to be very careful - if your son is refused entry into SA we will be heavily fined:


- a machine-readable passport
- minimum of one full blank page in his passport although Immigration state 2 clear pages
- a copy of the documentation from the SA High Commission that was received with his granted student visa application, including all information relating to him being able to travel on a one-way ticket (standard SA-issued advice says that visitors should hold a return ticket or pay a deposit if on a one-way ticket). We would also say that if there becomes a query at the airport about his one-way ticket, it would be helpful to have with him some kind of proof of how his return ticket will be arranged/paid for (unless his visa application answers this issue fully). Ideally, our Terminal 5 team say an open-dated return ticket might have been better for him to travel on - these can be open for a return flight up to 12 months ahead
- his full/unabridged birth certificate 
- an affidavit from both parents giving their consent for his journey, including agreement for him to travel to SA on a one-way ticket. Please include permanent home addresses on this
- proof of his study in SA. This should be a letter-headed document that confirms he is a current student at their facility, the course he is on and the term dates they expect to receive him between.

UPDATE Son arrived and cleared immigration, no questions asked or documentation requested

How to do......... as an expat in South Africa

First thing if you want to do anything here is start the conversation with...

'I'm not from round these parts, I'm British, on a visitors visa (can't work) and I would like some to explain to me how to open, set up, tranfer, apply for, find...etc'

Don't be embarrassed to ask to speak with a supervisor, hang up phone again.

From personal experience it's better to actually go to the shop/government building/municipality department and speak with someone face to face, there will be long queues so top your phone up and take a book. No need for snacks, they usually have food vans and drinks as they know how long these things take to do.

Whenever I need to do anything I take with me the following documents. You will need all of these photocopied and verified. To do this go to your local SAPS (Police Station) Don't confuse this with the Metro police they can't and won't sign documents.
I spend a lot of time at OR Tambo airport with visitors, dropping off and fetching hubby and find the Police very helpful there.

So here goes

Passport.
Copy of Passport and Visa.
Medical aid Card and copy of hubbies Passport.
Proof of Residency (something with your address on, in your name, spelt correctly.
Letter from hubby to say he gives full permission for me to deal with these things on his behalf (preferably on headed works paper).
Copy of employment contract (Yes they do require the full 27 pages).
3 months of pay slips (of course when you arrive you don't have this, banks, etc will tell you what to provide instead, as each place is different)

A vial of the kids blood is often useful to offer, no one takes bribes here, you'll just end up in jail.

And when all else fails, just return with hubby, him muttering 'can't you do this yourself?' when all else fails and they need to see him, after you've completed all the forms, had everything stamped, signed in triplicate and queued for an average of 4 hours a day for the past week.