South Africa House

[Bean of Love]

:mad:

We applied for my sons child passport in July last year. We were told that the passport would take abour 4 months. As it is nearly the end of January, I've decided to look into matters and do you think I can speak to anyone in London??? NO! I end up listening to an automated American sounding person speak over and over again, no matter which choices I make.

There is one option where you could speak to an operator, but in true Home Affairs style...nobody answers the phone! :duh:

I am furious!

Sorry...I just had to get that out of my system! oapbox:

[lols]

I had the same problem a few weeks ago and then I tried this number

http://www.southafricahouse.com/index.htm#

Phone: +44 (0) 20 7451 7299 which it says is not consular section but I managed to speak to someone and she was ever so helpful. I did say to her that I knew this is not the right number but I did not have any luck with any of other numbers stated. She manged to answer the question the needed anyway.

Good Luck

[mcamp999]

If my memory serves me correctly, try one of these two 020 7925 8905/6

[spam]

The staff at the Home affairs section are the rudest, most arrogant incompetents that i have ever had the misfortune to deal with. They have no idea. When we went in to renew the kids passports one guy insisted that we have to come back with the children for finger prints...WHEN IT STATES ON THE BLOODY FORM IT IS NOT NECESSARY.
I chased things up with Pretoria to be told that the passports had been despatched two weeks prior to my enquiry. SA House were adamant that if we had not received a letter teling us to collect them, they had not been received. I demanded they look and hey presto, two childrens passports and not a hint of an apology.

My wife's section 6.... ha, after asking where to hand in the application, we were told to stand in the queue, which we did for 2 hours...only to be told at the counter that we should have gone straight to the cashier.....forget getting it done while you wait as the website indicates....we waited longer than the UK naturalization process for it.
The system sucks...the British High Commission in Pretoria will renew a UK passport in around 3 days. The fact that it can take months to get one from SA is ludicrous.

[Bean of Love]

Hi..

I don't even want to rant anymore! I phoned the embassy... I got some guy who doesn't know his :yikes: from his elbow and he gave me the number for the passport office.

I phoned them the whole day...and surprise surprise....no answer! :beg: let something work at that horrid place!

Just imagine if you were some rich guy wanting to move to South Africa and you get that kind of service...or shall I rather say, lack thereof...would you go? :o

[tisha]

Great, something to look forward to!!

My passport expires in September and I'm going home in November so I'll need to get it renewed fairly soon. I live in Leeds so would I need to go to a Police Station to get fingerprints taken etc if I want to submit it by post? Can I download the form from the Internet - I assume it's the BI-73 or is it best to request one to be sent to me?

[mcamp999]

Great, something to look forward to!!

My passport expires in September and I'm going home in November so I'll need to get it renewed fairly soon. I live in Leeds so would I need to go to a Police Station to get fingerprints taken etc if I want to submit it by post? Can I download the form from the Internet - I assume it's the BI-73 or is it best to request one to be sent to me?

http://www.southafricahouse.com/hacs/pptrenewal.htm

[tisha]

http://www.southafricahouse.com/hacs/pptrenewal.htm

Thanks, I've read through it.

I've got a British Passport, am I then allowed to renew my SA Passport?

[mcamp999]

Thanks, I've read through it.

I've got a British Passport, am I then allowed to renew my SA Passport?

did you apply for retention of citizenship before applying for your British Passport?

[tisha]

did you apply for retention of citizenship before applying for your British Passport?

Yes I think I did.