Taking a page out of the e-commerce model, the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) is introducing doorstep delivery of passports for South African citizens living abroad.
The move, announced yesterday, is in line with the DHA’s digital transformation, as the custodian of identity management targets to deliver “home affairs @ home” to citizens.
Minister Dr Leon Schreiber made the announcement at the opening of a DHA service centre at The Hague in the Netherlands, revealing the service will go live for those citizens living abroad on 1 November.
Schreiber said: “This bold reform promotes inclusivity by resolving long-standing problems experienced by South Africans abroad when applying for a passport.
“Through our vision to deliver ‘home affairs @ home’, we are pushing forward relentlessly to eliminate the need for clients to travel large distances and stand in long queues to obtain enabling documents. Instead, our digital transformation journey means that we are using technology to decentralise access and bring our services to South Africans right where they live – anywhere in the world.”
The home affairs department already enables online applications for passports and smart IDs, with citizens required to go into bank or DHA branches to supply their biometrics.
Passport delivery will mark the first time that home affairs will provide clients with the option to select courier delivery for a critical document, instead of travelling to an office for document collection.
According to the DHA, turnaround times will range from 24 to 72 hours and will attract a fee ranging between $30 (R521.74) and $60 (R1 043). The service will initially be available at the existing service centres located in 18 cities around the world, with more set to be launched over the coming months.
The department adds that rolling out the service to South Africans living abroad first will allow it to refine and perfect the process in a sandbox environment, before rolling out the option of doorstep delivery to all clients in SA as well.
Schreiber concluded: “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, including through our new digital partnership model with the banking sector.
“This latest step demonstrates that the tech-driven service delivery revolution underway at home affairs continues to gather momentum as we work to deliver dignity for all.”
For more information on all locations that will offer this service from 1 November, click here.
Share