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The South African Department of Home Affairs will discontinue the issuing of temporary passports as an interim travel document from September 1st.
Department spokesperson, Mayihlome Tshwete, says the decision comes after the turn-around time for issuing passports valid for ten years, has been improved drastically by the department.
"The need for a temporary passport has now become redundant due to the advanaced technology like live capture instead of manual capture which takes a longer period., the department is able to process people's passports much faster. The manual system takes about 24 days to process the documents. The live capture takes about 13 days." says Tshwete
Tshwete says the decision will also prevent that South Africans travelling abroad be refused entry to countries when travelling on temporary SA-passports.
According to him, an Emergency Travel Certificate will still be issued to applicants under emergency circumstances.
This includes instances where passports are lost abroad or for purposes of assisting family members in distress.
