eHomeAffairs - getting it to work for you

[mvanstra1976]

I have just received confirmation of an application which according to my calculations failed,...because i was unable to get through the steps as mentioned before and this reply to acknowledge receipt of a "failed" application comes a month and a half later :-D :-D :-D

 

[justplain]

This whole process is a UI nightmare.
The instruction are poor, there is no real help on their site explaining errors or messages.
The internet banking payment approval was a pain as no instruction is given ( I had search around for the SBSA process to approve the payment), now I cannot book an appointment as every time I select a date/time and click "book" is tells me that no booking was received.... solution was to use Firefox. Chrome does not seem to work.
THANK GOODNESS I received my booking confirmation letter.
The home affairs site is not for the technophobe that's for sure.....

 

[Cartel]

Good Morning

Would just like to vent my frustration here as well, maybe some one has proceeded further than where I am stuck at now.

Been trying to help my Sister in law to renew her passport. Went through the whole online registration but its also getting stuck at Step 3 and keeps saying Proceed to Branch. So I contacted the Help desk, her current passport is still marked as uncollected at the Main Durban branch where it was done 10 years ago, even though its been in her possession for the last 10 years .

Anyways, so they need to mark it as "collected" first, before the online application can proceed to the next step. Been trying to call that number 031 308 7900 for the entire morning but it just rings and no one picks up. Going to be sending an email to Branch Manger next, a Mr. Magagula according to the DHA website, although I am not getting my hopes up for a reply.

She'll be up in Jo burg one of these days, so we trying to get it done online so that she can go and visit one of the Bank branches there, but yeah not getting past this step.

Any other recommendations, beside the obvious one to go and queue in those never ending lines?

Cartel

 

[e4et]

Seems like it's best to just go to a branch and apply in person.

 

[justplain]

attended my booking at Standard Bank Canal Walk for my finger prints and photo.
All done within an hour.
They really need to roll this out to more branches and radically improve the online application process (like do away with the need for Flash player and go straight HTML5 etc for the form.)
Now to wait for finished products.

 

[ipodmusicman]

I've now attempted to apply for my son's passport via eHomeAffairs, but after entering his birth date and ID number, I was presented with the second step where I am supposed to complete a form, but instead, there is no form. Just a bunch of buttons (Cancel, Edit, Next, Print, Download PDF, etc). I even attempted to re-install Adobe Flash and tried this with 3 browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Vivaldi and Edge) and no luck whatsoever! I cannot believe that they are using Adobe Flash - typical !! THEN, I did the unthinkable - I fired up Internet Explorer !!! and I got the form!!! I cannot understand who the idiots are that designed this system that in my case, NO OTHER BROWSERS worked - I even logged onto my work PC and nada! Also in order to read the form, you need to zoom in the form for the text to be legible - and be quick because even if the timer appears indicating that your session will expire and you click to continue, once you have filled in the form and hit save, it will indicate that your session has expired (although in theory, it shouldn't have).

I eventually got the form filled out, saved it and on submission to Home Affairs, it indicated that I already have an application open on the old system??? Really??? Sooo, I'll be calling the call centre at 7:30 sharp in the morning hoping for a miracle.

Also, does anybody know if they take bookings for appointments on a Saturday? The sole reason for going this route is so that I can do this on a Saturday as it is impossible to do this during the week (school, work, etc). I even opened a Standard Bank account so that I can access eHomeAffairs at Standard Bank at Canal Walk.

 

[Foxhound5366]

I got first my new ID card and later my updated passport through this channel, so hopefully in ten years they manage to resolve everything so that it goes even better next time. Things (kinda) worked for me, and it was WAY better than dealing with Home Affairs branches directly, so I was grateful to at least have a second option. Nowhere else in guvment do we get a second option.

 

[mccdyl001]

Just an update to my situation, phoned the call centre again 0800 601 190 / 012 338 8000 this time they did something to my profile and I was able to submit my application online, make payment through FNB and upload my ID doc. F*****ing relived lol

Wow thank you so much for this. Similar problem too - the portal saying "CANNOT SUBMIT - You already have a similar application open and in progress with Home Affairs on the old system." Phoned the 0800 number you mentioned above, chose option 1 then listened for "passports", then after about 12 minutes on hold got through to a call center agent. I explained that I was doing the online application for a passport but was getting this error and could not proceed, and that reading help online it said to call the call center and get an agent to delete all open applications.

The agent said that yes, this is the right thing to do. What happened was 10 years ago in 2010 when I picked up my last passport, the Home Affairs employee did not mark the passport as collected in the system. So it will not let me apply for a new one. The agent then said there is an escalation process and he took my ID, email + phone number then said he'd need to put me on hold while he contacted that team. I went back on hold for about 8 minutes and then he returned saying it was done, it should take about 24 hours to reflect in the system and then after that time I'll be able to apply online properly. Finally he read me back a reference number if I need to chase up the escalation process (i.e. if I still cannot make an application after 24 hours).

All in all, 20 minutes of my time, very easy to explain my situation and the agent knew exactly what to do. Hopefully in a day's time I'll be able to go and make an application and choose my bank branch to complete it at!

 

[andres101]

I've been trying to use this service to get my ID card since last week. Every couple of days the service works for a bit and I can get through another step. I'm currently at the step where I have to make an appointment for biometrics, but the site is down again (since yesterday afternoon).

It seems like the site is down more often than not.

 

[Cc Cufflin]

I've now attempted to apply for my son's passport via eHomeAffairs, but after entering his birth date and ID number, I was presented with the second step where I am supposed to complete a form, but instead, there is no form. Just a bunch of buttons (Cancel, Edit, Next, Print, Download PDF, etc). I even attempted to re-install Adobe Flash and tried this with 3 browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Vivaldi and Edge) and no luck whatsoever! I cannot believe that they are using Adobe Flash - typical !! THEN, I did the unthinkable - I fired up Internet Explorer !!! and I got the form!!! I cannot understand who the idiots are that designed this system that in my case, NO OTHER BROWSERS worked - I even logged onto my work PC and nada! Also in order to read the form, you need to zoom in the form for the text to be legible - and be quick because even if the timer appears indicating that your session will expire and you click to continue, once you have filled in the form and hit save, it will indicate that your session has expired (although in theory, it shouldn't have).

I eventually got the form filled out, saved it and on submission to Home Affairs, it indicated that I already have an application open on the old system??? Really??? Sooo, I'll be calling the call centre at 7:30 sharp in the morning hoping for a miracle.

Also, does anybody know if they take bookings for appointments on a Saturday? The sole reason for going this route is so that I can do this on a Saturday as it is impossible to do this during the week (school, work, etc). I even opened a Standard Bank account so that I can access eHomeAffairs at Standard Bank at Canal Walk.

Hi! Just want to find out how you solved You already have a similar application open and in progress with Home Affairs old system???

I get this error now aswell and it is the first time I am applying???

 

[Leno]

I wonder if home affairs are aware that flash player is EOL on 31 Dec 2020

 

[notinterested]

Don't mean to go off topic here, but I just want to say that computer literacy in SA is a nightmare. I'm convinced that when people say the 'system is offline' , half the time it's like the keyboard is not connected properly or something stupid like that.

The state of most government websites is just embarrassing. The fact that we are supposed to be a major developing economy, but our government can't get basic IT services to work says a lot about where we stand as an 'industrial' nation.

 

[Milano]

Sigh. I see their OTP system is down yet again and has been up and down for years. It would be way better if they could actually use professionals for IT and simply donate R750 million to themselves for each IT job.

 

[grok]

Sigh. I see their OTP system is down yet again and has been up and down for years. It would be way better if they could actually use professionals for IT and simply donate R750 million to themselves for each IT job.

LOL remember the time some in the country were considering scraping R1billion together to give to Jacob Zuma to skulk off into the night, since the losses with him carrying on as president would've cost us considerably more?

That is Africa for you.. paid to do a job then doing it so k@k that someone has to bribe you to try & prevent you from ruining everything even further.

 

[Mista_Mobsta]

I recently went through the E-Home Affairs site to renew passport and issue card ID - it really was a painless process! I had a bit of trouble with the payment confirmation but a little bit of patience was called for and it eventually reflected. I couldn't view and print my confirmation notice as the PDF didn't generate properly but I didn't need it at all. Booked an appointment at a Standard Bank Branch for 09:00 and I was in and out within 15minutes of arriving. It really was 10000000000000000x better than going to home affairs branch!

 

[Milano]

I recently went through the E-Home Affairs site to renew passport and issue card ID - it really was a painless process! I had a bit of trouble with the payment confirmation but a little bit of patience was called for and it eventually reflected. I couldn't view and print my confirmation notice as the PDF didn't generate properly but I didn't need it at all. Booked an appointment at a Standard Bank Branch for 09:00 and I was in and out within 15minutes of arriving. It really was 10000000000000000x better than going to home affairs branch!

Yes used it before - when it works it definitely beats the alternative which is a condemned building they use as an office situated in the ghetto+ part of Durban. Only problem is how often various components of the service are not working as evident on their own social media page:

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1625877530762830&id=248177891866141

The up and down OTP service issue has been ongoing for 4 years Sigh. Facebook comments are entertaining though.

Those pdf's they generate are okay but they use same pdf generator as SARS which limits the number of PDF readers that can successfully open them.

 

[stefan9]

I can't get the dam form to load to do the application. Have tried all of edge,chrome and firefox. Even installed the abomination that is flash, still not loading .

Any help would be appreciated

 

[newklear]

I can't get the dam form to load to do the application. Have tried all of edge,chrome and firefox. Even installed the abomination that is flash, still not loading .

Any help would be appreciated

You have to use Internet Explorer unfortunately!

 

[stefan9]

You have to use Internet Explorer unfortunately!

Sigh. Thanks

 

[zil]

This is the error I got:


I am going to go to a home affairs branch to sort it out. Does anyone know whether I need to cancel all online applications before I go apply in person at a branch?