Births and Deaths Registration (Fees) (Amendment) Regulations, 2024 (No. 17)

The Minister of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage has replaced the whole fee schedule for births and deaths registration, repealing the 2009 fee amendment (S.I. 138 of 2009).

The headline is the age split on birth certificates. An initial birth certificate is free for a person aged six or younger, but costs US$5 for anyone above six — so a late registration carries a charge that a timely one does not. An initial death certificate is US$2.

Other certificate charges: a certified copy of an entry of a birth or death certificate US$5, an extract from an entry US$2, a certificate not provided for elsewhere US$2, an urgent birth or death certificate US$10, an external birth certificate US$15, a non-citizen birth certificate US$10 initially and US$25 for a duplicate, authentication US$20 and re-registration for legitimacy purposes US$20.

Corrections split two ways. Altering a name in the register or correcting an error costs US$5, but correcting an error that originated from the Department is free. Changing a surname costs US$50 by notarial deed but only US$5 through the Registrar-General.

Searching records for any one year is US$1 and photocopying is 20 US cents a page. A footnote says the fees may be paid in Zimbabwe dollars at the prevailing interbank rate.

No commencement date is stated; the regulations were published in a Gazette Extraordinary on 30 January 2024. Note that the extracted text repeats the instrument twice — a duplication in the source PDF, not two different versions.