Passport renewal issue
Dave Nisbet sent a message to Leon Amos Schreiber.
- To
-
Leon Amos Schreiber
- From
-
Dave Nisbet
- Subject
- Passport renewal issue
- Date
- Aug. 19, 2025, 9:36 a.m.
Dear Dr Schreiber,
My apologies for writing to you as I know you are a busy man.
I went to renew my passport yesterday in Grabouw and was informed that I had to take a maxi passport as my standard passport which I got in 2016 in Richards Bay had not been booked out at Richards Bay Home Affairs with my finger print, so as far as the system is concerned the passport it is still in Richards Bay Home Affairs despite me having used it for numerous trips overseas. (My passport previous to 2016 was a maxi as I was working overseas a lot at the time).
Now according to home affairs in Grabouw to rectify this error I have to go to Home Affairs in Richards Bay to book out the passport of 2016 with my finger print so that I can now get a standard passport. If I am not prepared to do this then I have to take a maxi at double the cost even though I don’t need a maxi. This error cannot be fixed online by Home Affairs in Grabouw.
I now live in Somerset West and am not going to buy an air ticket to Durban, hire a car to get to Richards Bay and then try and explain to them that they have to book out a passport that has been in my possession for ten years.
This situation is farcical and is at the expense of a citizen who is being compromised by a fault of Home Affairs now being forced to pay for a maxi passport that is not needed when a standard is what I want.
There has to be a way of rectifying this issue remotely. In ten years time when I need to renew my passport am I again going to be forced to pay double for a maxi that I don’t need.
Regards
Dave Nisbet
Future replies will be published here.