"Welcome" to South Africa!!!

-Bob F.


US tourist 'jailed' at airport
02/Mar/2005 12:06 - (SA)

Tisha Steyn

Cape Town - An American tourist spent the night "in jail" at Cape Town International Airport because she didn't have a blank page in her passport.

Joyce Klein, a United States citizen, arrived in Cape Town on Friday afternoon February 18.

She and her German husband Bernd and friends Michael and Maggie Ragg had flown with Qatar Airlines from Manchester in England via Doha in Qatar and Johannesburg to Cape Town.

When she got to the passport booth, the immigration official bluntly told her: "You cannot come in."

It appeared that there was no blank page in her passport, apparently required by South African immigration.

She said the official told her: "That's not my problem. You have to go back to England."

Accompanied by her husband, Klein was then "marched" to a "holding cell" at the airport "like a criminal".

The "cell", with one window that could not be opened, contained beds "that had been slept in, and a dirty bathroom".

The room was apparently an office which had been converted into a bedroom for use when a traveller was not allowed entrance into the country and had to be put up until arrangements could be made.

"They kept a guard posted outside the door the whole night."

On Saturday morning, the couple was put on a plane back to Doha, where the US embassy provided more pages for her passport "within a couple of minutes".

Required by law

Nkosana Sibuyi, head of communications at the home affairs department told News24 it was required by the Immigration Act and regulations that a passport had to have one blank page "for official purposes".

A foreigner will be allowed into the country without a valid passport "only in an emergency, such as death," Sibuyi said.

In the past, US embassy staff had been requested to come to the airport to add pages or provide a temporary passport for US citizens in a similar fix. In this instance, the embassy apparently refused to come out, since Klein had arrived after 20:00, he said.

He said Klein was kept in an overnight facility that belonged to the Airport Company of South Africa, and it was not the responsibility of the foreign affairs department to keep it clean.

"All the airlines know about the passport regulation and when they are fined for the contravention of the rule, they pay the fine gracefully", Sibuyi said.

Airline paid a fine

A Qatar Airlines employee said a fine of R5 000 was paid to Immigration Services and Klein and her husband was put on the first flight back to Doha.

She said although the airline paid the fine, it remained the responsibility of the passenger to make sure her passport complied with South African rules.

She confirmed that there was a problem with the overnight facility. ACSA was supposed to change the linen every day.

She said the facility was used on a daily basis for people trying to enter the country on invalid passports.

http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,,2-7-1442_1670115,00.html

Now there's something to think about, how many people check their passports to see how many clean pages they have.

Come on fess up!!!!!

I have 4 (I cheated, I just looked!)

Thats a law that really works.
Sounds like our Homeland Security BS.

The other item to check is expiration date, as some countries won't let you in with an expiration date less than 6 month away. Or a return ticket too.

jim

quote:

Originally posted by Widowmaker416:
Now there's something to think about, how many people check their passports to see how many clean pages they have.

Come on fess up!!!!!

I have 4 (I cheated, I just looked!)

I did when going to RSA in June.

Luckily I had 2 (I think). I was told by the ticket agent that if I didn't have enough pages, I would be denied boarding. Sounds better than staying in the "Joberg Immigration Hilton".

Terry's 'To Do' list has a link to where to send your passport to get extra pages added. Takes a few weeks, so if you're planning a trip and you are or will be short pages, get it done now.

-Steve

Steve had alerted us to this issue in January and I added it to my Tips and Packing List.

Here is the original post Visa Pages.

Regards,

Terry

Although it is an over reaction by the authorities there is no excuse for STUPIDITY IMHO .... One would think that travelers do have some common sense when they hop on around the world, we cant always keep wiping everyones backside all the time can we ...

Also the amount of travelers that dont know most countries need a passport to be valid for min 6 months beyond the planned arrival date.

Its a MAD MAD MAD world we live in

Regards, Peter

Although I am not a fan of RSA an choose not to spend my good ole American Greenbacks there, i do not blame them for refusing enterance without clean passport pages.
just when are travelers going to become responsible for their own misactions. It isn't as though passport requirements( clean pages) popped up the day of this parties flight. Anyone traveling into ANY country should have the common sense to keep alert to ALL of that countries laws.
With that said, I'm headed to Namibia.

I agree that the lady should have made sure she had some blank pages available in her passport. It's the traveler's responsibiity. However, I just think the South African authorties could have handled it better. Remember, we're all human and we make mistakes. I really don't think that South Africa has an illegal immigration problem with U.S. citizens. I don't think she presented a high risk. I just think something could have been worked out in a more amiable manner. Maybe or maybe not....

BUT, I also noticed that part of the article which stated: "In the past, US embassy staff had been requested to come to the airport to add pages or provide a temporary passport for US citizens in a similar fix. In this instance, the embassy apparently refused to come out, since Klein had arrived after 20:00, he said." I wonder why the U.S. embassy staff didn't come out the following morning and take care of it then instead of the couple having to board a flight back to Doha?

However, all of this aside, the main reason I posted this news item was as a reminder for everyone to check their passports for the expiration date and to make sure there are enough blank pages in it before leaving. Here's a real example of why it is important.

-Bob F.

Bob as I was reading this before I got to your post I wondered the very same thing. Its good to be advised and reminded of the laws but I sure find it regrettable that the US Embassy did not come to aid in the am.

This is all well and good, but shouldn't there be some rule that the imigration people use the next space rather than using extra space and wasting pages.

This post points out one of the reasons I'm so thankful to Saeed, Don and the others that make this forum go. I read the earlier warning about having sufficient pages in your passport and decided to look at mine. I renewed it in 2002 and assumed that I had plenty of room remaining.

Wrong! I only had 1 1/2 pages left and have two trips out of the U.S. planned in the near future. I usually fly my first legs out of the U.S. on Delta or NWA and I can't remember a ticket agent not checking for the empty pages and the 6 months deal, but, after all, it is my responsibility, not theirs!

Sending you passport to Charleston, SC (where I was directed) is pretty darn easy and you can pay for expedited service. I'm not leaving until June 9th, so I sent mine for regular service... It's free, by the way.

Thank you all for saving me the embarassment and delay of showing up at the airport with a three-year-old passport that is jam full of stamps and stickies....

Everyone should pull out their passport and check the expiration date and available pages. It was a 30 seconds well spent for me.

Also.. I usually use Kathi for my travel. She knows I'm a vet at all this stuff, but she never fails to remind me. I used to say, "yeah.. yeah..." and not pay much attention at what she said about little things.. well, no more. You could really screw up a trip by blowing off good advice from a professional!

Die Ou Jagter,

I can't agree with you more! I have more space used up on in my passport wher the stamps are done right in the middle of the page, not in a square, uses 4 spots for one..

I travel quite a bit internationally as part of my job. United and Lufthansa have been very good about checking my passport pages and verifying my visa. Continental has been pretty good as well. On my last trip to Turkey, the local Continental agent asked about my lack of visa even though Continental was only providing domestic service to Houston. But as the article brings out, its your butt sitting in the holding room or worse so in the end (no pun intended) its your responsibility.

Thanks for the enlightening heads up BF.

Another point to consider with Customs and Immigration officials as well as US Consular services abroad is the old spoon full of honey, bowl full of vinegar idea. Unfortunately I still see many of my fellow American adopt the vinegar approach and then wonder why things are difficult.

A fellow hunter I met in Zimbabwe was a victum of this rule. Told me he spent a very unconfortable night in the international lounge at Jburg while his buds were enjoying a night on the town. Next morn he boarded his flight to Zim and all was well. He was busy checking his flights to ensure he didn't have to overnight in Jburg on the way home though.

You'd have to have been there, but I wonder if a $100 bill might have "found" enough space to get her in with the promise that she'd get more pages the next day at the embassy. Not that I would suggest bribery, of course.

Gato,

You are a generous man! I have personally seen $20 make some pretty serious problems go away in the Jo'burg airport.

JMHO,

JohnTheGreek

Well, I'd have started at a lower number, but compared to spending the night in an iron bar hilton and having to fly back home, $100 seems pretty cheap. Everything is relative, said the boy to his sister.

.

Well, geez, Alf, I guess my definition of "rules" depends on where I am, how serious the breaking of said rule is, and how flexible the person applying them is. After all, making a simple mistake over a couple of blank pieces of paper is hardly a threat to the stability of RSA. I seriously doubt the person involved in this fiasco intended to get into the situation to begin with. So......given that she was in it, the question becomes, what is her best way out......rules, indeed.

Alf,

You're absolutly right. After all we are visitors when traveling and the host country sets the rules.

For example the rules for bringing in sporting arms into the U.S. are way out of line, IMHO. We (U.S. citizens) should try and get some of this straightend out.

The RSA entry visa stamp takes about half a page and is adhesive paper. The visa is solid and will cover any other pre-existing visas that is may be placed over, rendering them un-readable. The exit stamp takes another quarter of a page (regular old ink stamp). If there is another stamp on the 'last page', one of the RSA stamps will likely obscure the other one.

I'm not certain, but I'm sure that passport treaties hold that is verbotten to obscure pre-existing visas. So I'd bet that the resoning behind this is simply thought to be practical, alibeit a bit strict.

One should make sure that thye've got theiri's dotted and t's crossed and thye'll be fine. Using a good travel agent will help with that.


-Steve

As someone who has had three or more pages "burned" in one morning, by plane hopping in Europe, go easy on the poor traveller. The immigration folks USUALLY start on a particular page (varies by country), and then stamp the first available spot. But they don't always. An unfortunate traveler could have several blank pages when leaving home, and none when arriving at their destination. Through no fault of their own, mind you.

Incidentally, since particular countries start on particular page numbers, this is how US immigration quickly looks for prohibited stamps. Probably the same with all countries with bizarre travel laws.