{"id":648633,"date":"2026-05-19T15:32:22","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T13:32:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=648633"},"modified":"2026-05-19T15:36:21","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T13:36:21","slug":"good-news-for-people-who-need-a-new-smart-id-and-passport-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/government\/648633-good-news-for-people-who-need-a-new-smart-id-and-passport-in-south-africa.html","title":{"rendered":"Good news for people who need a new smart ID and passport in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Home Affairs minister Leon Schreiber has announced significant upgrades to his department’s branch appointment booking system, which had been abused by “unscrupulous individuals”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The booking system, launched in 2021, enabled citizens to book appointments at Home Affairs branches online, avoiding queues at the branches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Schreiber said that long-standing neglect and underinvestment had led to the booking platform being abused by people who blocked slots and sold them to desperate citizens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The result was that citizens struggled to obtain booking slots, which are free of charge,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I can announce today that we have just rolled out an upgraded online booking system. Our modern booking site has secured the system against such abuses.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added that his department anticipated that the system, available at myhomeaffairsonline.dha.gov.za<\/a>, would take a week or two to fully stabilise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To register on the platform, users must create a profile using their email address and phone number, and set a password.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once registered and signed in, users can book a slot at a Home Affairs branch and are required to enter their ID number to do so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After moving on to the next page, users are prompted to enter the applicant’s details, including their full name and phone number. Providing an email address was optional.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Critically, this required full forenames, including a middle name if one appears on their identity document. It presented an error when the middle name wasn’t provided.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the next page, users are provided the option to book an appointment, update their user details, or view all active appointments for the associated ID number.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Booking an appointment required users to select their province and city, then choose a Home Affairs branch nearby with live-capture facilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Home Affairs launched the online smart ID and passport application booking portal in 2021 to combat corruption and long queues at its branches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In September 2021, the department presented the portal before Parliament and demonstrated that it would allow South Africans to request appointments at specific offices in each province.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The then Democratic Alliance shadow minister for Home Affairs, Angel Khanyile, said the system would be accessible on mobile devices in several official South African languages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Online citizenship reinstatement<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Department of Home Affairs added the option for any South African to verify or reinstate their citizenship<\/a> if it was unconstitutionally withdrawn to the platform in November 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Until May 2025, South Africa automatically revoked citizenship from individuals who voluntarily acquired another nation’s citizenship, unless they obtained permission to retain their South African citizenship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, a Constitutional Court ruling has declared these withdrawals unconstitutional, and the South African government is required to restore citizenship to those who lost it under the provision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those who had their citizenship revoked were blocked from acquiring an ID in South Africa, including the new smart ID card and the older green ID book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, through the myhomeaffairsonline.dha.gov.za platform, the Department of Home Affairs has enabled individuals to apply to have their citizenship reinstated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“In keeping with our commitment to use digital transformation to deliver Home Affairs @ Home, this process involves no queues and no paperwork whatsoever,” Schreiber said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Instead, it uses facial recognition and machine learning to verify your identity and securely correct your record on the population register.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He acknowledged the Constitutional Court’s May ruling, adding that the latest move ensured compliance with the court’s orders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Schreiber said it also positioned his department at the global cutting-edge of biometric verification and machine learning technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Very few countries on Earth offer digital citizenship services at this level of sophistication,” the minister said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Over time, the powerful underlying technology we have built for this portal will also significantly enhance other services \u2026 by eliminating reliance on paperwork and manual verification.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Department of Home Affairs has rolled out significant upgrades to its branch booking system.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341076,"featured_media":648654,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18668],"tags":[6535,102963,78048,105344,100966,102107],"class_list":["post-648633","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-department-of-home-affairs","tag-home-affairs-branches","tag-leon-schreiber","tag-myhomeaffairsonline","tag-passport-applications","tag-smart-id-applications"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648633"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/341076"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=648633"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648633\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":648658,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648633\/revisions\/648658"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/648654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=648633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=648633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=648633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}