Dear Dr Schreiber,
I am hoping you can help us. My husband and I live in Randburg and have booked air tickets for February to visit our family in Australia who we haven't seen since 2018. Our passports had expired but, according to the internet, it only takes about 3 weeks for new passports to be issued. This was at the beginning of October so we were confident we had enough time to get new passports and apply for visas. However, when we went online to apply for new passports we thought we would apply for the new ID card as well, not realizing that once we apply for ID cards we cannot apply for passports. We filled in the application for the ID card but when we tried to apply for our passports the DHA website advised "No Passport application can be captured - Applicant cannot apply for passport until ID Card is sent to print". When we went into the Cresta Home Affairs office to do our biometrics we were advised that this was correct. When I enquired when our ID cards would be ready the lady said she could not say. I went back to Cresta DHA a couple of weeks later to inquire if there was any progress and I was told the photos in our ID book were old so they couldn't verify our identity. I offered to bring in our expired passports which had more current photos but they were not interested This was 3 months ago and our ID cards are still being "processed". Our flights are booked for 9th February and we need to apply for visas but cannot do so without passports. We are pensioners and the fee to change flights is exorbitant so we are hoping you can help us expedite the issuing of our ID cards and let us apply for and be issued with new passports in order to utilize our booked flights.
Thank you.