South African passports are issued only in Pretoria, South Africa. Applications must still be delivered to the relevant South African representative office in writing. Applications are processed for at least six (6) months.
Emergency travel authorizations are provided at South African missions abroad, and the processing time is just three (3) weeks.
What must I do if I want to renew my passport?
Passports from South Africa cannot be renewed. When your passport expires, you need to apply for a new one. Please go to the website that contains instructions on applying for a passport.
Can I get more pages added to my passport as I still have pages left in it even though it hasn’t expired?
Unfortunately, South African passports cannot have more pages added. Instead, you must submit a fresh passport application. If you travel regularly, a maxi passport might be the better option.
Do I still need to fill out all those documents even though I already have a passport?
The BI-73, BI-9, and BI-529 forms must all be submitted when applying for a South African passport.
