How can I get a copy of my South African–born child's birth certificate? Neither parent is South African.

The long answer

The Home Affairs website says: “Undocumented Foreign Nationals who are born in South Africa are issued with a certificate free of charge on registration of their births.”

The Scalabrini Centre of Cape Town says that children born to two non-South Africans and who do not qualify for citizenship are entitled to a birth certificate according to the Births and Deaths Registration Act. But in those cases, children are given birth certificates that do not include an ID number and the child is not entered into the National Population Register.

Home Affairs must have a copy of the birth certificate, and you would have to fill in form B1—154 and submit it to Home Affairs to get a copy. That is the form that South Africans must complete to get a replacement birth certificate and I could not find any different instructions for foreign parents whose child was born here. 

It could take six to eight weeks to replace the birth certificate and the application fee is R75.00.

If you encounter difficulty at Home Affairs in getting the birth certificate, you could ask one of the following organisations for assistance:

• The Scalabrini Centre of Cape Town:

           WhatsApp number: 078 260 3536.

• Lawyers for Human Rights (Refugee and Migrant Rights Programme) at Johannesburg: 011 339 1960. Email: lhr@lhr.org.za;

• Legal Resources Centre: Email: info@lrc.org.za;

• PASSOP: Cape Town: 021 762 0322

Wishing you the best,
Athalie