Green ID book countdown: 14-million upgrades in 17 Months

Home Affairs has announced that the green ID book stops being valid form of identification in South Africa on 31 March 2028. At the latest count that represents 14.7-million citizens and permanent residents. Over the roughly 17 months left (at time of publishing), that equates to about 855 000 upgrades per month.

Or 195 000 a week, or nearly 28 000 every calendar day. However, in the last six months, Home Affairs has only affected 1.3-million green ID book upgrades. That’s 217 000 per month. Therefore, it’s going to need South Africans to come forward four-times faster than anything achieved so far …

GREEN ID BOOK COUNTDOWN

As we know, Home Affairs business at bank branches is where all the heavy lifting is meant to occur. About 515 branches now offer walk-in replacements. Capitec alone has reportedly processed more than half-a-million applications at its 248 branches. Plus, Home Affairs says annual issuance has hit a record of four-million smart IDs in 2025.

Better still, the department announced in May 2025 that over 1.4-million naturalised citizens and lawful permanent residents could finally upgrade from the old green ID book, too. This started with applicants from visa-exempt countries. But everyone else in this group is still waiting for their invitation. Minister of Home Affairs, Leon Schreiber, has promised to enable the ‘remaining cohort’ aboard before 31 March 2028.

WHAT HAS TO HAPPEN IN GREEN ID BOOK COUNTDOWN

Banks now offer walk-in green ID book upgrades. You don’t have to prebook through eHomeAffairs. Image: File

The department’s HomeAffairs@Home scheme has no time to waste to meet its deadlines and quadruple service capacity. Bank access needs to expand quickly, with a noted target of 1 000 service points by the end of 2026. Also note that the current figure of 14.7 million excludes new first-time applications turning 16. Moreover, long-suffering naturalised citizens and permanent residents need working access to the system well before March 2028 deadline.

The deadline is firm, but Home Affairs capacity simply isn’t there yet to quadruple green ID book upgrades. And the challenge isn’t the date itself, but rather how government is going to convince millions of people to act long before the deadline comes into view …

But what do you think? Are you going to upgrade from the green ID book to a Smart ID card? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below …