Big jump in passport prices hits South Africa this week
South African passports have just jumped up in price by 50% as new changes put in place by the Department of Home Affairs come into effect.
Standard passports will now cost R600, up R200 from the original R400 price that had been in place since 2011. Larger passport books for people who travel often have seen the most noticeable increase, doubling from R600 before to R1,200.
The prices come into effect on 1 November 2022.
Speaking to ENCA, minister of home affairs Aaron Motsoaledi said the price jump is due to the last review of tariffs being over ten years ago.
Motsoaledi said after reviewing the passport and putting up a service provider to benchmark it, the group found that South African passports were three times cheaper than many countries.
He added that passports were being heavily subsidised, whereas ordinary citizens who did not have the luxury or money to travel were not subsidised when it came to getting essential documents such as an identity document (ID).
As a result, the department concluded that those that can afford to travel should pay more.
The table below outlines the main changes from the Department of Home Affairs:
| Document | Old price | New price | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard Adult Passport (32 pages) | R400 | R600 | 50% |
| Maxi Adult Passport (48 pages) | R600 | R1 200 | 100% |
| Child Passport | R400 | R600 | 50% |
| Crew Member Certificate | R350 | R600 | 71.4% |
| Emergency Travel Certificate | R140 | R140 | 0% |
The hiking of the price is also an attempt to secure the document’s reputation within the global community. The South African passport’s reputation has come under scrutiny following several high-profile fraud and corruption cases involving the document in recent months.
To some jurisdictions, the passport has become a ‘joke’. In one instance, international airline RyanAir quizzed local passport holders in Afrikaans to test their knowledge and determine if they were South African citizens – this is how little they trust the document, said Motsoaledi.
“They are asking these questions because they don’t trust the passport you have. It affects everyone,” he said.
In August, the minister announced the first of three major actions being taken to protect the security of the South African passport – the end of transferrable and third-party collections and a new activation process that the applicant can only complete.
Under the new process:
- A passport can only be collected from the office it was applied for. You will be forced to go back to the same office to collect it.
- Only the person who applied for the passport can collect it.
- Passports will be activated by a fingerprint – which will be compared to a photo. Upon collection, everything has to be matched up to the data in the national identity database.
- For minors, only parents or legal guardians can apply and collect these using the same methods.
Read: When punch-drunk consumers in South Africa can expect to catch a break
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