Home Affairs to deliver passports to South Africans’ doorsteps abroad
Minister of Home Affairs, Leon Schreiber says South Africans living abroad will enjoy the convenience of having their passports delivered directly to their doorsteps.
Image: Armand Hough / Independent Newspapers
South Africans living abroad will soon have their new passports delivered straight to their front doors as the Department of Home Affairs is launching the new initiative from November 1.
Minister of Home Affairs Dr Leon Schreiber said the move was among the many measures that the department is taking in terms of a “bold reform” strategy.
The announcement was made during Schreiber’s address to the South African community in The Hague, the Netherlands, where the department also opened a new service centre designed to slash passport waiting times from up to 18 months to as little as five weeks.
“This marks the first time ever that Home Affairs has provided clients with the option to select courier delivery for a critical enabling document, instead of being forced to travel to an office for a second time just for document collection,” the department said.
The initiative is part of Home Affairs’ broader digital transformation drive, known as “Home Affairs @ home”, which aims to make government services faster, smarter, and more accessible, wherever citizens live.
Schreiber said the overseas rollout was also being used as a testing phase as it allows the department to “refine and perfect the process in a sandbox environment” before expanding it to all South Africans.
From November, citizens abroad will be able to choose courier delivery for their passports at all Home Affairs service centres worldwide. Passports will be delivered within 24 to 72 hours after completion, at a fee ranging from US$30 to US$60. Initially, the service will operate through 18 global centres, with more expected in the coming months.
Schreiber described the step as a major leap toward inclusivity and modernisation.
“This bold reform not only promotes inclusivity by resolving long-standing problems experienced by South Africans abroad when applying for a passport but also amounts to another watershed moment for #TeamHomeAffairs as we work with urgency to reform our department from a laggard to a world leader in identity management.”
He added that once the system is proven abroad, the same convenience will also reach South Africans at home.
“Once we are comfortable that doorstep delivery is working smoothly and securely for the relatively small population of South Africans living abroad, we will scale up this reform to provide all South Africans with the option to have their documents delivered to their doorstep,” Schreiber concluded.