In the end, the whole process has cost me R675 – around $90. That’s for 1 adult passport (mine), 2x child passports, 5 unabridged birth certificates, and 1 “computer printed abridged” certificate.

You have to love the time frames too. Passports take 4-6 weeks or 6-8 weeks, depending on who you talk to. The unabridged birth certificates take 12 weeks! Unbelievable. I can get the birth certificates near the beginning of May — if I’m lucky. On the other hand, the abridged certificate was printed right then and there, and I walked out with it.

I need to obtain birth certificates for myself and my brother. Typically, I need to get unabridged birth certificates, which take 6 – 8 weeks, if you’re lucky. The abridged certificates are done while you wait, but unfortunately don’t show parentage, which we need to prove that we are brothers.

I also need to renew my passport, which expires in November, and my sons, which expired last year. I also need to get one for my daughter. So that was another three forms.

While looking for my son’s birth certificate, we realised that we couldn’t find the original, so I filled out a form to get another one. Then we thought we might as well get an unabridged one while we were at it in case we needed it later for emigration purposes. Same for my daughter, but fortunately we have her original cert, so it was only one form in that case.

Then a while later, it ocurred to my wife that we should probably get an unabridged copy of hers too. Arrgh.