Home Affairs Minister approves new passport tariffs

The Minister says this was done in consultation with the Minister of Finance, Enoch Godongwana.

The amended fees - which were published in Government Gazette in October - came into effect on Tuesday, the 1st of November 2022.

Motsoaledi says the fees payable for the issuing of South African passports and travel documents were last adjusted in 2011.

"The changes to passport and travel document fees were informed by the outcome of a bench-marking exercise with other countries which found that our tariffs were up to three times lower.

"The decision was also informed by the fact that production costs are much higher than what people are paying for our passports. This means the Government is heavily subsidising passport holders when such a subsidy is not realised for ordinary ID applicants.

“We believe that the people who are able to travel out of the country are financially better off than ordinary citizens and they don’t need to be subsidised in the manner we have been doing," says Motsoaledi.

READ: New passport tariffs to come into effect next month

The Minister adds that there are different fees for applications made in South Africa and those coming from abroad.

"The fees payable in respect of applications for a South African passport or travel document made within the Republic are as follows: Adult passport R600 for 32 pages, R1 200 for 48 pages, Official passport R600, Diplomatic passport R600, Document for travel purposes R600, Crew member certificate R600. 

"The fees payable in respect of applications for a South African passport or travel document made outside of the Republic, at Missions, Embassies or Consulates, are as follows: Adult passport R1 200 for 32 pages,; R2 400 for 48 pages, Child passport R1 200, Emergency travel certificate R140."

Motsoaledi further adds that there is no such document as an emergency passport.

"Once more, we wish to advise our people that there is nothing called an emergency passport. The emergency travel certificate mentioned above is a document available only to South Africans stranded abroad. 

"It helps them to come back home and when they arrive, the usefulness of the document lapses. There is no emergency travel certificate for South Africans who need to travel abroad."