South Africans now have significantly more places to apply for a Smart ID Card following the expansion of the Department of Home Affairs' Digital Partnership with Absa.
The latest rollout more than doubles the number of Smart ID service points available across the country and also introduces South Africa's first bank-based Home Affairs mobile unit, which will take digital identity services to remote and underserved communities.
Absa Joins Home Affairs Digital Partnership
Absa has become the fourth banking partner to join the Department of Home Affairs' Digital Partnership.
The initiative is designed to make Home Affairs services more accessible by allowing South Africans to apply for Smart ID Cards at participating bank branches instead of only visiting Home Affairs offices.
As part of the partnership, a new mobile Home Affairs unit will bring secure Smart ID services directly to remote, peri-urban and previously underserved communities.
More Locations To Apply For Smart ID Cards
Launching the expanded partnership in Tembisa, Home Affairs Minister Dr Leon Schreiber said the reforms are transforming the way South Africans access identity services.
"For far too long, accessing Home Affairs meant taking a taxi or a bus, missing a day of work, standing in long queues, and spending hours simply to apply for an identity document. Our Home Affairs @ Home reform programme is changing that forever by bringing Home Affairs to where people live, work and bank," Schreiber said.
The Department's Digital Partnership officially launched on 9 March 2026 and has expanded rapidly over the past four and a half months.
According to Schreiber, there are now 327 participating bank branches offering Smart ID services.
Combined with the Department's 214 modernised Home Affairs offices, South Africans can now access Smart ID services at 541 locations nationwide.
“Together with the department's 214 modernised Home Affairs offices, South Africans can now access Smart ID services at 541 locations, compared to just 214 before the partnership began.
“This is the fastest expansion of access to Home Affairs services since the dawn of democracy, with the Digital Partnership already adding more Smart ID service points than the entire modernised Home Affairs network that existed when the reform programme began,” Schreiber said.
More Home Affairs Services Coming To Banks
The Minister said the Digital Partnership is expected to expand to around 750 participating bank branches before the end of 2026.
Together with existing Home Affairs offices, this will provide approximately 1,000 locations where South Africans can apply for a Smart ID Card.
Schreiber also announced that additional Home Affairs services will soon become available through participating banks.
These include:
-
Adult passport applications.
-
Minor passport applications.
-
First-time Smart ID Card applications.
-
Home delivery of identity documents.
Home Affairs Aims To Replace Green ID Books
The expansion forms part of the Department's broader Home Affairs @ Home reform programme, which aims to modernise identity services and replace the older green barcoded ID books with more secure Smart ID Cards.
"Through Home Affairs @ home, we are making it easier than ever before for South Africans to replace the fraud-prone green barcoded ID book with the secure Smart ID Card. Together, we are closing the chapter on the fraud-prone green barcoded ID book and opening a new chapter of secure, digitalised identity services that delivers dignity for all,” the Minister said.
