Pretoria – South Africans and foreign nationals travelling to and from South Africa with children under the age of 18 are complying with the new travel regulations.
“Perceptions that new requirements are impossible or impractical to enforce hold no water,” the Department of Home Affairs said on Wednesday.
Under the new immigration legislation amendments, which came into effect in June, South Africans and foreign nationals travelling to and from South Africa with children under the age of 18 are required to produce unabridged birth certificates.
The implementation of the new legislation is part of government’s commitment to safeguard the best interests of children and prevent child trafficking.
According to department data systems records for arrivals and departures at ports of entry, for June 2015, 132 353 children were processed.
“Of these, 1 878 were recorded as having not met requirements, placing compliance levels at 98 percent,” the department said.
Arrivals of foreign children for June was 57 436, with departures at 74 917.
Compliance for July was more than 99 percent as the movement for minors was 216 259.
July arrivals for foreign children were 128 839, with their departures at 87 420.
The department noted that travellers from Europe and America showed a slight increase for July (year on year) after showing slight declines for June (year on year).
“There is no evidence conclusively to say since new immigration regulations took effect there’s been a sharp decline in numbers of foreign travellers arriving in South Africa and that jobs had been lost,” the department said.
When Statistics South Africa released its 2014 Tourism report it noted that the salient characteristics of the 2014 tourists did not differ much from observations from previous years.
“South Africa’s regulations are not onerous, but rationale. They are applied similarly in some countries, including guidelines from the US, UK, Australia, Canada and Schengen countries,” the department said. – SAnews.gov.za
