Civic Services

If you have been struggling with home affairs to obtain South African civil documents our law firm can assist you. Documents that we can help you obtain include:

• Birth Certificates – both abridged and unabridged. Our services are particularly helpful with
  registering the birth of your child within their first thirty days, however we can also assist with
  late registrations of births or obtaining an unabridged birth certificate where an applicant only
  has the abridged version;
• Marriage Interviews – for a foreigner and a South African to get married, a marriage
  interview needs to be conducted first. More about what this entails can be read on our blog
  here.
• Marriage Certificates – to register a marriage abroad or to apply for residency abroad as a married person, you will need an unabridged marriage certificate from the Department of Home Affairs, which needs to be applied for. We can assist with this application and follow-up with the Department to receive this as soon as possible;
• Passport Applications – we can assist you with first time applications and renewal of South African passports through the Department of Home Affairs;
• South African Identity Books or ID Cards – In terms of the South African Identification Act 68 of 1997 all South African persons above the age of 16 are required to have an identity card. All South African permanent residents have twelve months from obtaining permanent residency to apply for their South African identity book. We can assist with these applications and make sure the process goes smoothly through the Department of Home Affairs;
• Death Certificates – In the event of needing a death certificate for the purposes of executing a will, updating the national population register or any other reason, we can walk you through the process and assist you with obtaining a death certificate as soon as possible;

Delays in Obtaining Civil Documentation from the Department of Home Affairs

If you have applied for any of the above documentation and have been waiting an unreasonable amount of time (anything over 3 months is considered unreasonable, except in the case of first time identity books) and you urgently need a document, we can assist you in expediting the application through High Court litigation to force home affairs to finalize the application.

Get in touch if you need any civic services or assistance through the courts.