Schreiber sets 31 March 2028 expiry date for green ID books

Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber has announced that South Africa’s green ID books will cease to be valid identification on 31 March 2028, with production scheduled to stop a year earlier.

Speaking at Constitution Hill in Johannesburg on Thursday, 1 October, Schreiber set 31 March 2027 as the deadline for ending production and decommissioning the machines used to make the booklets.

He said the later invalidation date would fall under section 25(1)(b) of the Identification Act. The announcement sets out a phase-out timetable; it does not make green books invalid immediately.

Schreiber said 14.7 million South African citizens and permanent residents still relied on the green book as their only identity document.

He said the department would make smart ID cards available to the remaining naturalised citizens and permanent residents, as well as South African citizens abroad, before production of the booklets ends.

Access to replacement cards has expanded through banks, according to the minister. He said 515 bank branches were already offering biometric walk-in applications for replacement smart ID cards, and more than 822,500 people had used the service.

The department aims to make the service available at more than 1,000 service points by the end of 2026. Schreiber described passport applications, first-time smart ID applications and courier delivery as further services still to be introduced.

The minister presented the switch as part of the department’s wider modernisation programme. A separate digital identity system remains under development, with regulations being finalised.

Schreiber said use of the digital system would be voluntary and that physical smart ID cards would remain available.