Can you skip Smart ID Card and go straight to Digital ID?

It’s good news for the Smart ID Card in South Africa. This week, Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber showed off the first-ever QR-coded, biometrically locked Digital ID. Addressing media at Constitution Hill, he pulled up his own real identity credentials on a smartphone

It represents a quantum leap into the 21^st century for the department, leaving the old barcoded ID booklet in the dust. As such, it also raises other questions. Such as, could you just wait out the Smart ID Card and skip ahead to the Digital ID instead?

SKIP THE SMART ID CARD

The Digital ID forms part of Home Affairs’ Quantum Leap reform programme. It is described by Minister Schreiber as a ‘remote verification tool’ rather than a scanned photo of a document. As such, it links directly to your biometrics on the National Population Register (NPR), letting you approve or deny exactly what information gets shared in real time.

Crucially, to your question, Schreiber frames it as sitting alongside the Smart ID card, not replacing it. “We are moving from a situation where we currently have two versions of valid ID. The insecure green ID booklet and the safer Smart ID Card. But soon there will be two new forms, the secure Smart ID Card and smartphone-based Digital ID. Both will be voluntary, and the physical card will remain available for anyone who chooses to use it,” the minister confirmed.

WHY UPGRADE TO A SMART ID CARD?

As a result, the smartphone-based Digital ID draws on biometric data already captured by Home Affairs – your fingerprints and digital photograph. However, nothing said at the launch explicitly states that holding a physical Smart ID Card is a prerequisite to the Digital ID. Therefore, it stands to reason, there is a real possibility that someone could simply jump straight from the old ID book (or even just their existing NPR entry) straight to a Digital ID, when the service goes online.

That’s not confirmed policy, of course. And Schreiber was explicit that no public launch date exists yet for the Digital ID. Likewise, eligibility requirements haven’t been published as yet. Until then, the safest assumption remains that both paths will run independently – like the current card/booklet arrangement.

SA ID HOLDER DEADLINES THAT MATTER

However, whatever happens with the Digital ID, these are the finalised dates every SA ID holder with an old green booklet needs to know:

• 31 March 2027: Home Affairs stops producing green ID books entirely, machines decommissioned.
• 31 March 2027: Naturalised citizens, permanent residents and South Africans living abroad (previously an underserved group), will be able to obtain Smart ID Cards.
• 31 March 2028: Green ID book loses all legal validity as an identity document

Roughly 15-million South Africans currently rely solely on the green book, according to Minister Schreiber.

HOW TO APPLY FOR SMART ID CARD ONLINE

So, if you’re among that group, it’s time to get cracking on that Smart ID Card application:

• Register on eHomeAffairs using your ID number, email and cellphone number, verified via OTP.
• Log in and apply for your Smart ID Card, specifying whether it’s a green book upgrade, replacement, or first-time application.
• Book your biometric appointment via My Home Affairs Online.
• Choose a participating bank branch for biometrics rather than a Home Affairs office, over 515 branches now take part.
• Attend your appointment with your current ID document. Biometrics capture takes roughly 15 to 20 minutes.
• First-time applicants and anyone 60 or older pay no fee; replacements cost R140.
• Collect your card once notified by SMS, typically within two to three weeks.

But what do you think? Would you opt to skip the Smart ID Card and go directly to a Digital ID? Or would that mean government misses a lot of money making in the process? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below …