Birth Certificates

A Birth certificate is a certificate issued by your country of birth to confirm and acknowledge the registration of your birth in that specific country.

We can assist u to obtain your South African Birth certificate. We also assist in expediting the issue of your birth certificate.

Birth certificates are issued by the South African Department of Home Affairs

Follow the following procedure for us to obtain a birth certificate on your behalf.

Download and complete the application form BI154

Take note of the following:

Top of page mark with a X what type of certificate is needed,

Section A:Details of the person whom the certificate is needed for.

- You can ignore the birth entry number.

- Attach any old birth certificates you have.

Section B: Details of the Father

- Complete with as much information as possible

- If you do not have ID numbers give the birth dates if possible

Section C: Details of the Mother

- Complete with as much information as possible

- If you do not have ID numbers give the birth dates if possible

Section D: Details of person who applies for birth certificate.

- Use your current address and contact details.

- If you do not have ID numbers give the birth dates if possible

If the person was born after 1 January 2000 also complete and attach the form BI24.

( This form is usually used for late registrations of birth but is also needed to expedite applications from 1 January 2000.)

Take note of the following:

- Ignore where thumb or finger prints is asked.

Download and Complete the Client Sheet.

- Complete one per family/application batch.

- Indicate if any other actions like notary copies or Legalisation is required.

When we receive the application we will.

- Process the application for a birth certificate.

- Email u a invoice with payment options and details.

- Courier the original birth certificate to u.

Cost and Fees and Lead Times

• Abridged R 395 - 2 working days.

• Unabridged birth certificate normal lead time of 6 to 12 weeks R 695 paid on completion.

• Unabridged birth certificate expedited with lead time of 7 to 15 working days R 895 paid on invoice or

R 1195 paid on completion.

• Unabridged birth certificate expedited with lead time of 3 to 5 working days R 895 paid on invoice with a final payment of R 805 on completion.

• Vault Copy birth certificate normal lead time of 9 to 24 weeks R 795 paid on completion.

• Vault Copy birth certificate expedited with lead time of 15 to 25 working days R 995 paid on invoice or

R 1295 paid on completion.

• Courier fees in South Africa Door to Door where possible R 145 per consignment of up to 10 certificates.

• Courier fees to any other country door to door where possible R 525 consignment of up to 10 certificates.

• Bank and Forex fees from abroad or PayPal are additional.

• Ask us about our Legalisation service : Apostille, Authentication and Legalisation at Embassy's.

NEW SERVICE: Notarised copy of any of above certificates R 395 - will be done after receipt of payment.

Description of the types of South African birth certificates that can be obtained.

Unabridged Birth Certificate

• A unabridged birth certificate is a certificate of birth showing both the persons parents details.

• The unabridged birth certificate is a computer print out and the document can be apostilled or legalised.

• The Unabridged Birth certificate is usually needed for Visas, Immigration , School registration and international travel.

Vault Copy of Birth Certificate

• A vault copy of a birth certificate is a copy of the actual birth registration form when the birth was first registered in the handwriting of the person who did the registration of the birth.

• Vault copies of a birth is usually used to prove the right to citizenship or a passport i.e British Passport

• The vault copy of a birth certificate can not be apostilled or legalised. Only a notarised copy can be made which can be Legalised.

Abridged Birth Certificate

• A abridged birth certificate is a certificate of birth showing the persons details.

• The abridged birth certificate is a computer print out and the document can not be apostilled or legalised but a notary copy can be made.

• Abridged birth certificates are fazed out by the Department of Home Affairs in South Africa.

History of Birth Certificates in South Africa as per Ancestry24 Ancestry 24

Birth certificates were officially introduced in South Africa the late 1800 and only

became compulsory until 1905 in South Africa. The Cape in 1895, Natal in 1868,

Transvaal in 1901, Orange Free State in 1903 Not everybody registered their

child in the first month of birth. Some did it years later when they had more than

one child to register.

As our ancestors were not always very law abiding and despised the government

of the time not all births were registered.

For earlier information a person have to consult have to consult baptism records,

death notices or burial records. Birth dates were not included into baptism registers

until around 1800 and in most instances it will say “date of birth unknown”. While

the Department of Home Affairs in Pretoria is the official custodian of birth records,

the general public may view these in the various provincial archival repositories.

Access to the birth registers is closed for

a period of 100 years to protect individuals.

Where to start you search.

You will first need to know in which magisterial district the birth took place as this will

determine which Archives those records are held. These indexes are not searchable

electronically except for the Western Cape Index on Ancestry24. If someone was born

in the Northern Cape, Eastern Cape or Western Cape the records will be in the Cape

Town Archives. Birth records from Natal would be in the Pietermaritzburg Archives etc. If birth place is unknown, you can consult the deceased estate papers and look at the death notice. This should show a place of birth, although often it gives just the city and not the magisterial district.

Next, consult the index to the birth in the magisterial area in which it was registered. For a birth in Cape Town you might need to check places like Cape Town Central, Wynberg, Docks, Green Point, Sea Point, Woodstock, Observatory etc – all in separate registers. It varies, but as an example, Worcester has 62 Birth Registers dating back to 1895. There are about four years per register until 1933 and one register per year thereafter. For Worcester, the earliest reference number is 1/3/57/4/1 and it covers births from 1895 to June 1905.

Information contained in the birth registers

Some of these books are very large, heavy and the pages are difficult to photograph because of their size. Once you have the particular register, you can get date of birth, child’s name if given, mother and father, parents’ address, when and where the birth was registered, if the child was legitimate as well as race. Copies of official birth certificates cannot be issued from the archives and photographs or photocopies of these registers are not allowed.

Other sources of birth dates

Apart from baptism records, you can consult inscriptions on tombstones. Backup evidence should be used to ensure the details are correct. The Government Gazette, which was established in 1800. Originally the title was Kaapsche Stads Courant en Africaansche Berigter – or known by the English as The Cape Town Gazette and African Advertiser. It had a regular column for births, marriage and deaths. These advertisements were placed mainly by English- speaking people until the 1870′s.

Ordering birth certificate copies

If you are looking for a copy of your own birth certificate or someone who died within the last 100 years, you need to apply to the Department of Home directly. B