Paul Denning, his wife, son and daughter arrived at the check-in
desk at Heathrow last week for flights to Johannesburg - booked at
a cost of £3,000 - only to be told by Virgin Atlantic staff they
did not have the required documentation and would therefore not be
able to fly.
South Africa said earlier this month that as of December 1
families would no longer need to carry the unabridged birth
certificates of their children, as has been required for the last
three years after stringent rules, aimed at tackling human
trafficking, were introduced. The government decided to amend the
laws after it became clear it was having a negative impact on
tourism.
However, there was apparent confusion after South Africa failed to
communicate the changes to airlines, while its home affairs
ministry warned travellers they should still carry the documents.
The UK Foreign Office is yet to update its advice.
None of the airlines approached by Telegraph Travel could say
immediately what the new rules meant for the documentation needed
by families. Thomas Cook Airlines said families should still carry
the necessary documents, while British Airways has only recently
updated its website with the relaxed guidance. Emirates did not
respond to a request for comment.
The lack of clarity was evident when Mr Denning was told there was
no way his family could travel without unabridged birth
certificates, despite showing staff articles from Telegraph Travel
detailing the new rules.
“We were told at the desk that three or four families are sent

away every day,” he said. “We arrived well in advance [and] went
to the check-in desk where they asked for birth certificates. We
were surprised [as] there was no mention when booking.
“Friends then accessed our house and scanned over the birth
certificates, only to be told my daughter’s would not be
acceptable because it’s the basic one without parental names. We
don’t have nor have ever had another one.”
While the rules were in place, South Africa put the onus on
airlines to check families had the correct documents, knowing they
would have to fly any passengers home should they be turned away
on arrival in the country. This led to scores of families unable
to board flights from the UK, having to return home with their
holiday plans in tatters.
While at London Heathrow, Mr Denning contacted the home affairs
ministry in Johannesburg, who confirmed that the family should be
allowed to fly.
The assistant director of immigration services at OR Tambo Airport
wrote in a letter to Virgin Atlantic: “I want to reiterate that
the airline won’t be penalised for bringing Ms Helen [Paul’s wife]
and her children without the unabridged birth certificate.”
After also contacting Virgin’s vice president, Mark Anderson, the
airline acquiesced and booked Mr Denning and his family onto a
flight the following day.
A spokesperson for Virgin Atlantic told Telegraph Travel the
airline was investigating. V.2690

There are fears that more people will be separated by the introduction of a minimum salary level for those wanting UK family visas. Families living in the UK and abroad have raised concerns about what new rules will mean for them as they try to reunite with foreign spouses. In December, the Home Office, which says migration to the UK is too high, announced a package of measures to reduce net migration, following a spike in arrival numbers. V.5318
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An Ethiopian asylum seeker, who does not speak English, claims he was duped by a senior immigration official into paying an admission of guilt fine when he thought he was paying for bail.Two Western Cape High Court judges have condemned the official`s `deplorable` behaviour, set aside the fine, and ordered the immigration official be taken off the case. Tsegaye Esyas claims Annelise van Dyk treated him like an animal which led to him attempt suicide while in police cells. V.5320
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EREMY MAGGS: I want to stay with crime now. Individuals with a criminal record may be faced with significant challenges when seeking employment, I think that’s a given. Here in South Africa, employers may legally exclude an applicant from consideration for a position if having a clean criminal record is what is termed an inherent requirement of the job. That phrase, inherent requirement, is important, but what exactly does that mean, and when can an applicant be lawfully excluded for having a criminal record? V.5321
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As a South African who has adopted a nomadic work lifestyle alongside my wife, Ingrid Lotze, I’ve been an interested observer of South Africa’s snail-pace digital nomad visa (DNV) development process. Despite the optimism surrounding its introduction, the visa seems to miss several crucial marks for digital nomads like us. V.5322
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DA MP says hours lost continue to result in persons being unable to collect their ID documents due to unmanageable queues The DA has been inundated with complaints that the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) systems are offline, resulting in long queues and delayed processing of documents. Through questions posed to the Minister, the DA can now reveal that the DHA has lost over 77 years’ worth of working hours due to system downtime and load-shedding from 2019 to date. Concerningly, this data only relates to hours lost for the application of smart IDs, meaning decades more of working hours could have been additionally lost in other spheres such as passport or visa applications. V.5314
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Home Affairs’ seemingly endless court battles set the department back more than R110-million between April 2023 and the end of February this year. This was revealed in a written parliamentary response by minister Aaron Motsoaledi. He said the department accumulated a litigation bill of R117 692 996.3, higher than the R72 637 944.51 spent the year before. V.5315
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Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) this week revealed that Cape Town International Airport (CTIA) has achieved a ground-breaking milestone by processing more than 10 million passengers over a single financial year. This is the highest number of regional and international passengers processed since COVID-19 V.5316
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In recent years, South Africa has seen a significant influx of immigrants from various African countries, as well as other parts of the world. This has raised important questions about the country`s immigration policies and their impact on job creation for both locals and immigrants. The South African immigration system, like many other countries, is a complex and ever-evolving process that aims to balance the country`s economic needs with its social and cultural interests. Let`s take a closer look at how this system intersects with job creation in South Africa. The South African government implemented the Immigration Act of 2002, which outlines the country`s immigration policies and procedures. Under this act, foreigners are required to obtain a visa or permit to enter, work, or study in South Africa. The type of visa or permit required depends on the intended purpose of the individual`s visit and their country of origin. V.5312
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Due to system downtime and load-shedding, the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) lost nearly 141,000 hours of Smart ID application and production time between the 2019/20 and 2022/23 financial years. Minister Aaron Motsoaledi revealed this figure in a recent response to questions raised in Parliament by Democratic Alliance MP Adrian Roos. Motsoaledi provided a breakdown of smart ID production and application hours lost to technical difficulties and load-shedding per province for each financial year from 2019/2020. These disruptions hit home Affairs offices in the Eastern Cape the hardest, with over 34,000 hours to rotational power cuts and system downtime. Mpumalanga offices lost the next-highest number of hours at 17 V.5313
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Home Affairs Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi has said the public has shown great support for the final White Paper on citizenship, immigration and refugee protection which appeared in the Government Gazette on Wednesday. Briefing the media, he addressed what he saw as a long-overdue need to replace an outdated Citizenship Act, as well as enact proposed changes to existing legislation. V.5306
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