Don’t Forget to Certify that Signed Parental Consent Affidavit If You’re Travelling Solo with Kids

A South African mom’s trip to England to introduce her new son to the family abroad, almost didn’t happen yesterday when she forgot to get the police to certify her husband’s signature on the Parental Consent Affidavit (PCA), allowing her to travel out of South Africa with their children.

Hoedspruit mother-of-two, Emily Visser, was fully aware – unlike some – of the rules and regulations required for travelling with children to and from South Africa. She had even contacted SAPeople earlier in the week to verify her child’s passport requirements. And she had the PCA in her hands, with her husband’s signature. But it was not certified.

So when Emily got all the way through Security at OR Tambo International Airport, and was at Passport Control… she was informed that the letter she had was not sufficient and had to be certified by the police.

“Fortunately my husband was still in the airport, and I could call him to rush back and help!
If I had gone through any later then there wouldn’t have been enough time to do so!
Praise the Lord that I could fly!” she told SAPeople this morning from the UK.

She says: “It was quite a hassle trying to get back out through the Security… no one seemed to know the procedure for someone needing to go back out. And with two small children (aged 1 and 3) it wasn’t very easy to be going back and forth, and rushing around!”

Emily’s husband managed to rush off and get the form certified at a Johannesburg police station, and his wife and children were able to board “just in time”.

Emily had thought the biggest problem was going to be her 18-month-old son’s passport. Both her son and daughter were born in SA, but she only had a British passport for her son, as she is still waiting for his South African passport to arrive.

Fortunately SAPeople was able to verify with the Department of Home Affairs, on her behalf, that “if the child is under 16 he or she may travel with the UK passport”. (By law, any South African over the age of 18 must travel in and out of SA on their South African passport.)

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Travelling in and out of South Africa with children – frequently asked questions answered!

Parental Consent Affidavit:
www.dha.gov.za/files/ParentalConsentAffidavit.pdf