Uncollected ID after 10 years

J

Jay-Z flamingo

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Hi all,

Looking for some advice from anyone who's dealt with Home Affairs recently.

A family member applied for a Smart ID card around 10 years ago. The card was apparently issued and sent to the Braamfontein (Harrison Street) Home Affairs office for collection, but it was never collected. The family member still has the old green ID book.

According to Home affairs policy uncollected ID's are destroyed if not collected after 12 months.

We now have an appointment at the Randburg Home Affairs office to try and sort this out.

My concern is that I find it hard to believe a physical Smart ID card would still be sitting at Braamfontein after 10 years. From what I've read, uncollected IDs are normally not kept indefinitely.

If Randburg looks up the record and simply says "the card is ready for collection at Braamfontein", how would they know whether the physical card still exists versus the system just showing an old status?

Also, about 2 years ago I went to the Braamfontein office to try and sort this out. At the time they were operating out of mobile buses, and they were apparently offline for collections, so I couldn't get any assistance regarding the card. Does anyone know if that's still the case today?

Has anyone been in a similar situation?

  • Were you able to resolve it at a different Home Affairs branch?
  • Did the system still show "ready for collection" even though the card no longer existed?
  • Were you required to travel to the original collection office, or could a replacement/new application be done elsewhere?
  • Is the Harrison Street office still operating from buses?
  • Has anyone successfully traced or replaced a Smart ID card that was never collected?
Any experiences or advice would be appreciated. Thanks.
 
I had this problem with HA regarding my passport.
Except I had already collected it in 2011... they blocked my renewal in 2024.
Cost me R900 to sort out by using one of those visa specialist companies
 
Things have been in so much chaos for decades with home affairs, only recently have they been getting their act somewhat together. So think it's a coin toss as to what will happen here.

I would just play mostly dumb, let them do the talking so you can determine what's actually going on first. It's simply a matter that the family member was never informed, and who would know how long they keep it.
They've got to go one of two ways in the end - give it to one of you if it is there, or allow the reapplication to go forward without problems. But who knows what hills you'll climb to reach one of those.

Presume the family member has given you signed permission to investigate / collect.

Come back and tell us how it goes.
 
The wife managed to collect hers after two years, made a appointment, walked in, sat down and collected.

She was also told according to Home affairs policy uncollected ID's are destroyed if not collected after 12 months but when we called the local Home Affairs they said it is worth a try to see if it is still there and it was.
 
Can't you apply for a new one and mark the other one as lost? That would technically be true if you tried to get it and were not able.
 
EmmanuelGoldstein said:
I had this problem with HA regarding my passport.
Except I had already collected it in 2011... they blocked my renewal in 2024.
Cost me R900 to sort out by using one of those visa specialist companies
Click to expand...
Had a similar issue a few years back: turned out that my previous passport had not been flagged as collected. I booked an appointment with Home Affairs to do the application, as I could not apply online. Got there and told the info desk my issue, and got told to wait in the entrance foyer. Eventually, got the branch manager (who I succinctly told the same story)... tappy tappy taps on the computer... Sir you have un uncollected passport in another part of JHB (never been anywhere near there) but since you have your (now) expired passport, I'll blah blah blah... about an hour later I was told I can now apply online again.

Fortunately I had time to do all of this as it was COVID, and wasn't travelling anywhere in a hurry, and my overseas trip was already cancelled because of all that craziness. Good to know about the VISA specialists for future though.
 
repitah said:
Had a similar issue a few years back: turned out that my previous passport had not been flagged as collected. I booked an appointment with Home Affairs to do the application, as I could not apply online. Got there and told the info desk my issue, and got told to wait in the entrance foyer. Eventually, got the branch manager (who I succinctly told the same story)... tappy tappy taps on the computer... Sir you have un uncollected passport in another part of JHB (never been anywhere near there) but since you have your (now) expired passport, I'll blah blah blah... about an hour later I was told I can now apply online again.

Fortunately I had time to do all of this as it was COVID, and wasn't travelling anywhere in a hurry, and my overseas trip was already cancelled because of all that craziness. Good to know about the VISA specialists for future though.
Click to expand...
I was told I have to travel back to JHB... Wasn't going to happen. Paid the "bribe" indirectly and got it sorted.
 
repitah said:
Had a similar issue a few years back: turned out that my previous passport had not been flagged as collected. I booked an appointment with Home Affairs to do the application, as I could not apply online. Got there and told the info desk my issue, and got told to wait in the entrance foyer. Eventually, got the branch manager (who I succinctly told the same story)... tappy tappy taps on the computer... Sir you have un uncollected passport in another part of JHB (never been anywhere near there) but since you have your (now) expired passport, I'll blah blah blah... about an hour later I was told I can now apply online again.

Fortunately I had time to do all of this as it was COVID, and wasn't travelling anywhere in a hurry, and my overseas trip was already cancelled because of all that craziness. Good to know about the VISA specialists for future though.
Click to expand...
I had a very similar situation back in 2020 - also passport not flagged as collected and so couldn't book online. Went into an office and they told me there was nothing they could do. Even though I had the passport with me (so clearly collected it), they said the only way it could be resolved was to go back to the home affairs office that I had gotten my previous passport from.
Luckily the other office was close by so I went there and they sorted it and processed my renewal.
 
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