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Full (unabridged) birth certificates are issued upon request to persons who are South African citizens and whose births were duly registered in the Republic of South Africa, provided that such persons obtained their citizenship through:
- Birth in the Republic of South Africa to South African citizens (by birth, naturalisation) or to foreigners who have valid permanent residence or work permits in South Africa;
- Registration of their birth for those who were born abroad to South African citizens
The following documents must be submitted when applying for a full (unabridged) birth certificate:
- Form BI-154 to be fully completed in block letters and in black ink;
- Form BI-529 to be fully completed in block letters and in black ink;
Note:
- All applicants are kindly requested to fully complete this form, which would assist in locating records at the Department of Home Affairs in Pretoria.
- Questions 9, 10, 11 of Part A are of particular importance.
- Questions that are not applicable should be marked as 'n/a'; if answers to certain questions are not known e.g. the mother's identity number, they should be marked as 'Do not know'.
- Form DHA-24 to be fully completed in block letters and in black ink (as this form may not be downloaded, it should be requested in writing and by submitting a self-addressed A4-size envelope with sufficient postage paid to mail the form to the applicant; alternatively, this form may be collected in person at our office during the Consular opening hours: Mon-Tue, Thu-Fri; 09:00-12:30);
Note:
- Parts A to F must be completed, dated and signed by the applicant.
- Questions that are not applicable should be marked as 'n/a'; if answers to certain questions are not known, they should be marked as 'Do not know'.
- The 'Compulsory Section' under Part A is not applicable i.e. may be marked as 'n/a'.
- The informant is the applicant i.e. person applying for the unabridged birth certificate.
- A recent photo of the child is not required for form DHA-24, (as this form may not be downloaded, it should be requested in writing and by submitting a self-addressed A4-size envelope with postage paid to mail the form to the applicant; alternatively, this form may be collected in person at our office during the opening hours: Mon-Tue, Thu-Fri; 09:00-12:30);.
- Certified copy of the applicant's South African passport or identity document, or foreign passport or identity document in the case of an applicant, who is not a South African citizen;
- A self-addressed A4-size envelope, to return the certificate after issuing, and any personal original documents, with sufficient postage for the return of passport by registered mail (REK) if not collected in person.
Please note that it is the responsibility of the applicant to verify the cost with the postal service. Envelopes from companies/institutes with “porto betalt” not admissible.
- Proof of payment of the prescribed application fee, e.g. copy of the bank transfer slip
Payment of the above-mentioned application fee may be made through an electronic bank transfer to the following account:
| Recipient: |
South African Embassy in Stockholm |
| Bank giro: |
606-4893 |
| Banking institution: |
SEB |
| Ref: |
Birth Certificate and Surname |
Should you require clarification on completing the application forms or have any further enquiries about the application process, please contact our office at your convenience.
NOTE (please read carefully):
- Should the birth certificate be certified with an apostille in terms of the 1961 Hague Convention (usually required by Swedish authorities), please confirm this in writing when submitting the application.
- Applicants are advised that applications submitted at our office are referred to the Department of Home Affairs in Pretoria, where the documents are issued, with the diplomatic freight bag once every two weeks.
- Unfortunately the intra-departmental movement of the application and tracing of original records in the register held by the Department of Home Affairs is a time consuming task, with the result that these applications may take up to six (6) months to process.
- Applicants would be immediately notified as soon as the issued document has been received by our office from Pretoria, and are kindly requested not to contact our office unnecessarily for progress reports. Applicants may however contact our office in the event of the application taking longer than six (6) months.
- Due to the long-term nature of such applications, applicants are kindly requested to keep our office informed of any change of address during the processing period; in fact, applicants should also provide us with a valid cellphone number and email address when submitting their application.
- A complete application may be either mailed to our office, or submitted personally during the consular opening hours: Mon-Tue, Thu-Fri; 09:00-12:30.
- Application forms should not be folded, and applications that are submitted by post, should be mailed in an A4-size envelope.
The Department of International Relations and Cooperation (formerly, Department of Foreign Affairs) offers a voluntary registration service for South African citizens that are travelling or residing abroad, ROSA (Registration of South Africans Abroad). This service is provided in the event there is a need to contact you to offer urgent advice on a natural disaster or civil unrest or a family emergency. Information may submitted by a South African citizen via the ROSA Online Registration form. |
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