The short answer
You have to go to Home Affairs in person with whatever documents you have left, as well as a police complaint report of the theft
The whole question
Dear Athalie
My friend's boyfriend is a foreign national. They have been together for eight years and have two children together. The boyfriend was robbed recently and lost all his travel documents. What can they do?
The long answer
You don’t say what kind of papers your friend’s foreign boyfriend had. But in any case, if he has not already done so, he should report the theft of his papers to the police. He needs to have a police case number he can show to the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) when he goes to them to get replacement papers. He should make a sworn affidavit setting out the details of how he was robbed, the date, etc. and take that plus a certified copy of the police case number/details to DHA and ask them to issue him with replacement papers.
The DHA website says that to replace stolen or lost documents, a person must submit the documents listed below, but does not say whether the list of required documents applies to foreigners as well as South Africans:
Completely filled BI-73 form
Report of loss in BI-335E form
Original Identity document
Complaint Report of theft from any police station
Certified copy of old passport (if available)
Costs of replacing documents vary but to replace a South African passport would cost R600.
The DHA would have copies of whatever documents your friend’s boyfriend was issued. If he had a foreign passport, he would have to go the embassy of his country and report the theft there and ask for a replacement.
If the DHA does not help him, he could approach one of the following organisations for assistance:
The Black Sash gives free paralegal advice
Email: help@blacksash.org.za
Helpline: 072 66 33 73, 072 633 3739 or 063 610 1865
The Scalabrini Centre of Cape Town takes a special interest in the rights of migrants and children
WhatsApp number: 078 260 3536
Email: info@scalabrini.org.za
Lawyers for Human Rights has a Refugee and Migrant Rights Programme
Johannesburg: 011 339 1960
Musina 015 534 2203
Durban: 031 301 0531
Pretoria: 012 320 2943
Cape Town: 021 424 8561
Email: info@lrc.org.za
Johannesburg: 011 836 9831
Cape Town: 021 481 3000
Durban: 031 301 7572
Wishing you the best,
Athalie
Answered on March 27, 2024, 9:44 a.m.
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