All 30 bank branches where you can get a Smart ID or new passport

There are currently 30 bank branches scattered across seven provinces in South Africa that support faster and more convenient Smart ID card and passport renewal services than most Department of Home Affairs (DHA) offices.

The bank branches offer these documents through the DHA’s online eHomeAffairs service.

This platform facilitates online submissions of all required personal information and supports online payments to save applicants time on their physical visits.

The latter is only required to capture your fingerprints and photo, and to collect your ID card or passport once it is ready. That entire process is also paperless.

Users also do not have to fear the infamous queues that snake their way through, and sometimes out of, DHA offices.

The number of slots available for biometric capturing is limited to ensure the branch has sufficient capacity to deal with applications quickly.

Bank branches are geared for customer service, so they often have better seating configurations, waiting areas, and air conditioning than DHA offices.

In addition, banks are equipped with high-speed primary Internet connections and often have backup systems to avoid downtime.

Several MyBroadband employees who have used the service over the past few months reported positive experiences, with both visits to the branches taking less than an hour.

Unfortunately, the service has remained restricted to around 30 branches for several years, limiting its accessibility.

Up to March 2024, roughly 665,694 Smart ID cards had been issued at DHA-enabled branches, making up just about 2.6% of the 26 million Smart ID cards issued nationwide.

The branches are also heavily concentrated in the country’s most populous provinces.

Two provinces — the North West and the Free State — have zero branches, meaning residents are forced to use conventional DHA offices or travel far to a bank branch that supports the service.

Gauteng — South Africa’s smallest yet most populous province — contains over half the bank branches.

The six banks participating in the eHomeAffairs pilot all have branches in Gauteng that support the service.

The Western Cape has the second-highest number of branches, with support from the Big Four oldest banks — Absa, FNB, Nedbank, and Standard Bank.

However, all except one of these branches are located in or around the Cape Town city centre, and the province is substantially bigger than Gauteng.

Those living in the “South Cape”, which includes George, Knysna, Mossel Bay, and Plettenberg Bay, would have to travel far to make use of eHomeAffairs inside a bank.

KwaZulu-Natal has three branches, all of which are located in Durban. It does not currently have any Absa branches that support this service.

Absa customers in or near Durban could open a cheap account with a rival bank to avoid using a conventional Home Affairs branch or travelling to a neighbouring province.

The Eastern Cape also has a duo of branches located in its capital — Gqeberha (formerly Port Elizabeth).

Mpumalanga, Limpopo, and the vast Northern Cape have just one branch each, from Nedbank, Standard Bank, and FNB, respectively.

The table below summarises all the bank branches that support Smart ID card and passport renewals.