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Passport Requirements -6 pages for one three-country trip?

HooHeel

Holy smokes, that's a lot of passport pages. I recently received my Tauck Travel Documents for my September trip to Z, B, & SA with this info:

-New rules at South Africa's airports require travelers that are transiting through or visiting South Africa, to have FOUR CONSECUTIVE [emphasis added by me] blank visa pages in your passport which lie side-by side when the passport is open (i.e. a left and a right-hand page). These must be pages marked "visa" at the top.*
-Guests will need two additional blank visa pages in their passport for their arrival into Zambia or transit through Zimbabwe. (These two additional pages need not be consecutive with the blank four-page spread noted above that is required for entry into South Africa.)__

*Online resources indicate TWO consecutive pages are needed per entry into SA. I'm flying through SA with an overnight in Johannesburg to Zambia the next day, so perhaps Tauck is trying to state that I need two SA pages for my trip over, two upon landing in Zambia, then two more when the tour heads into SA for the final few nights? Taking the Tauck info literally, I would need eight pages just for SA on this trip. That can't be right... Any recent experience with this from our seasoned travelers?

... and now I see on the US State Dept website, that THREE blank pages are required for Zambia. Same goes for Botswana-with one blank page needed per entry.

Wayward stamps aren't helping me keep consecutive pages blank for this trip. I have 18/19, 20/21, 22/23 available in my 2016 passport. 24/25 and 26/27 are also open, but the last three aren't marked "visa" at the top, so don't meet the requirements stated by Tauck. Also available are single pages 13,15, and 16 due to those wayward stamps. And I've got blank spaces on a few used pages.

Help please. Do I now need to rush a new passport? That seems crazy since my book has so many empty pages and spaces.

Tauck had communicated early on about the four consecutive pages needed for SA, but the additional two blank pages was news to me. Of course, I could have missed it. Is this typical for other countries? I've visited many in Europe & the Americas, but don't remember ever being notified about needing several completely blank pages in my passport. All of my stamps fit four to a page. Regardless, it looks like I'll be getting the passport with additional pages when I renew.

-edited: cool formatting on the Help please line. I didn't know it would do that. :-)

Comments

MotherOfPoodles

Heading to Zimbabwe, Botswana and South Africa in September and had a small crisis myself when I realized these requirements. The good news for all of us in this situation is : I sent in a USPS Priority Mail renewal application on 7/9/24 and received an "in process" notice that the application was received on 7/11/24. On 7/17/24 I received notice that my passport application was "approved". I guess I will get it within the next week. I sent my renewal application : Expedited service, Priority return mail ( 1 - 2 day delivery to me from the State department) , and a "fat" passport (ie extra pages) . The total cost last week was $211.36. ( breakdown: passport $130, expedited processing ($60) ; 1 -2 day return delivery ($21.36). The extra pages booklet was no extra charge. Check the State department website. There are some restrictions - the passport needs to be in your possession and not damaged; no name changes, etc. I got my photos done at CVS.

SAdivr

Returned a couple of weeks ago from the Wildlife Odyssey. Our passports had been recently renewed and we had the extra pages added, so the number of pages the countries required was not an issue for us. All pages now have visas written on them. We stopped in Johannesburg on the way for two nights and then spent two additional nights in Zambia before our tour began, so we ended up entering twice into South Africa, three times into Zimbabwe and once into Zambia and Botswana. No day trips. For all those entries they ended up using only 4 pages; three consecutive in the front and one Zimbabwe visa placed nearer the back of the passport. Two of the four pages were taken up with the Zimbabwe single and double visas. I didn't hear of anyone in our tour group having any issues with the number of consecutive pages in their passports.

OurTravels34

Yes, the 6 pages were quite a surprise. Leaving for our Botswana, Zambia, SA trip in August. I was looking through my passport and some immigration officials just willy nilly placed a stamp randomly and this could compromise pages for this upcoming trip. Fortunately, I did have blank pages. There are 4 family members on this trip.

MikeHenderson

If you get a new passport, make sure you get the larger book. The selection is at the top of the passport application. If you choose the expedited delivery ($60?), you'll get your new passport in maybe two weeks. I was surprised at how quick it was. You won't get your old passport back for maybe a month.