Bank branch passport renewal tested - April/May 2024

They just need to get the drivers licence renewal saga sorted out. Mine is expiring in February and I am dreading it.

The need to bring appointment booking to KZN
 
If the DHA website was working this whole process would be pretty damn smooth because you sukkel like crazy with the website half-working and trying to get a slot at the bank but once that's done the process is very quick & efficient.
 
The problem is getting that slot at the bank... they built a lot of slack into it, so the slots are few and far between :-(
 
Pro tip: Get someone from another bank to do the payment and EFT that person. This allows you to chose another banks (from your own) branch, They do not verify the customers bank at the branch, nor the fact someone else paid for it.
 
Renewed my passport at ABSA Stellenbosch, first visit was 10minutes, collection was 5 minutes. This is how things should be done.
 
I have had the bad experience of trying and failing twice. Unfortunately you still have to do most of the work on the DHA website as well as the payment. Then, if you get no response as to which bank to go to in order to finalize the process, you forfeit the money and good luck trying to get a refund.
I have come to the conclusion that the government is a criminal enterprise no matter what.
 
The last time I got a passport I did it through "the passport people" who handled everything. Is this not a thing anymore?
 
Seems there is no more barcoded eHomeAffairs “Application Confirmation”. Of course e-mailing HA about has not brought any reply yet after 3 months, and my phone call was dropped when I tried to phone about it.

But it needs to be remembered that the only "bank" thing here is they provide the data line and the desk space. Everything else is HA systems and staff. It shows tho what appointments can do, as well as datalines that stay connected.
 
Danie_V said:
Seems there is no more barcoded eHomeAffairs “Application Confirmation”. Of course e-mailing HA about has not brought any reply yet after 3 months, and my phone call was dropped when I tried to phone about it.

But it needs to be remembered that the only "bank" thing here is they provide the data line and the desk space. Everything else is HA systems and staff. It shows tho what appointments can do, as well as datalines that stay connected.
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Security, and specifically supervisory as well (indirectly, as it affects the banks reputation). They can ask for lunch money to allow you to join the queue, close early, lie that systems are offline conveniently at lunch and closing time at an actual DHA office because the manager, managers manager, all the way to the top DNGAF.

But at the bank mini offices, there is a branch manager all seeing. Not a space to clown around. The problem part of DHA has been effectively outsourced (by the private sector).

I wonder what all these pro commie ANC mantashes have to say about that.
 
saor said:
If the DHA website was working this whole process would be pretty damn smooth because you sukkel like crazy with the website half-working and trying to get a slot at the bank but once that's done the process is very quick & efficient.
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Or when it doesn’t send out the OTP. That can be very frustrating
 
Everybody, including this article, always talks about passport “renewal” or “renewing” one’s passport.

While it is completely understandable to see it in the same light as renewing one’s driver license etc, what many people do not know is that you don’t “renew” a passport. Every one you get, is considered a new application or document.

With driver license card renewals, it is basically the “same” license/card of which the validity period just gets extended.

With a passport, you don’t extend the validity of the same document, it is a new one all together.

Screenshot from the Home Affairs website
 

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Where do you think you're off to Jan? I am voting your party in 4 weeks time, you better not flee the country like a coward
 
Jan said:
Goodbye Home Affairs hell — Bank branch passport renewal tested

I recently renewed my passport at Home Affairs in a bank branch and was very impressed with the service and quick turnaround time.

The Department of Home Affairs (DHA) and major banks first launched the option to do Smart ID card and passport applications via select bank branches in 2016.
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You may have had a good experience, but the e-home affairs thread shows just how inconsistent the system is.

The system is hardly ever up and running 100%, the queues of people waiting while the staff sit and reboot the machine multiple times is a sign of a very unstable system.

When it works, its pretty good, but its not often. I had to go on 6 occasions, 3 different branches in the last 6 months and every time, the system wasn't up and you had to wait while they reboot over and over. One of the branches also sent me to a different bank which was nearby because they were not having any luck.
 
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