South Africans can in future verify their identity digitally through their cellphone and access Home Affairs documents, with the department already having developed a working prototype of a digital ID system.
Dr Leon Schreiber, minister of Home Affairs, outlined this plan on one October during his "Home Affairs Quantum Leap" speech at Constitution Hill. According to Schreiber, the digital ID prototype has already been built and the system will make it possible to verify identity digitally and access Home Affairs documents through a smartphone.
The digital ID will be voluntary and the physical smart ID will remain available. The digital transformation also includes a major expansion of Home Affairs services at bank branches. Currently 515 bank branches already offer biometric services where people can obtain their smart IDs among other things. More than 822 500 people have already used this service according to Schreiber.
The department plans to expand the number of service points to more than one thousand by the end of 2026. First applications for smart IDs and passports will also be made available at these bank branches, while secure courier delivery of documents to people's homes is being planned. The long-term plan is to also make other physical Home Affairs documents available through the expanded network, including birth, marriage and death certificates.
Schreiber further announced that Home Affairs has developed an electronic travel authorisation system to digitise and secure the visa process from beginning to end. The system is already available for short-stay visa applications from 53 countries, with study and work visas to be added to the digital system early in 2027.
Print here to read the full speech.
This article is an automatic English translation of a Nuusflits article originally published in Afrikaans. Read the Afrikaans original.
