Home Affairs minister Leon Schreiber says that home delivery for passports is on the way to South Africa, following the launch of the service for sokonnect living abroad.
While the minister did not provide a specific timeline for the service, he said that South Africans will be able to use it once the newly launched system “is stable”.
The home delivery service launched this week for South Africans living abroad, through the new Home Affairs service centres that have been opening in key destination countries.
Home Affairs started rolling out the new centres in the middle of the year, with the first opening in the United Kingdom before moving out to Australia, New Zealand, the UAE, China, France, Germany and The Netherlands.
The intention behind the service centres was to drastically cut down the waiting times for South African citizens in those countries to get hold of critical documents.
The department noted that South Africans abroad would typically have to wait for 12 to 18 months just to obtain a new passport. With the new service centres, this has been cut down to five weeks.
The latest development is for these centres now to facilitate home delivery of passports, which will be active from 1 November.
However, Schreiber stressed that similar local services are not too far behind, with the home delivery option expected to be available soon.
These services will pick up as the department continues to build digital channels and rapidly expand its reach in offering access to Smart ID and passports through the major banks.
The DHA’s plan is to first roll out Smart ID and passport services to 100 more bank branches by the end of the year, reaching 1,000 branches by 2028/29.
All of South Africa’s major banks have joined the initiative, already committing to opening access to the services through at least an additional 840 branches in the next 12 months.
This rollout is made possible through a newer, overhauled “live capture” system that is rolling out to all DHA branches, as well as working to digitally integrate with the banks.
If the DHA does not have a suitable ID photo on file, clients will be able to visit a special Smart ID terminal in bank branches.
The branches will also capture details like IDs and biometrics and verify them against the DHA’s database in real time. Within weeks, the documents will be available for collection at the same branch.
Using the newer technology and integrated systems, the banks will be eventually able to perform Smart ID and passport services digitally by adopting them onto their banking apps.
Ultimately, the DHA and the banks want to have a fully digital process with home delivery.
“Once the (international service centre) system is stable, we’ll roll this out for all clients in South Africa – including through our new digital partnership with the banks,” Schreiber said.
