Birth certificates renamed to cut down confusion

Unabridged birth certificates have been renamed abridged birth certificates, but travellers to SA will not receive advisories on the documentation they require until 2017, says Department of Home Affairs director-general Mkuseli Apleni. Renaming birth certificates to avoid confusion was possibly the easiest way to achieve a recommendation from Cabinet to ease entry into SA, Apleni said at a meeting on Wednesday with the Department of Tourism and organisations representing the tourism and aviation sectors. The meeting followed widespread concern about recent regulatory changes by the department. Critics maintain that the new rules, along with shortages of immigration officials, have hit, and will continue to hit, tourist numbers. A "short-term phase" of implementing the Cabinet’s recommendations to soften the impact of the new rules for travellers concluded at the beginning of November, Apleni said. Most of these recommendations had been implemented or were in the process of being im...

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