How Capitec and TymeBank customers can get a Smart ID or passport from a bank branch

Capitec and TymeBank customers can temporarily use a low-cost bank account with another major bank to renew their passports or get a Smart ID card from a bank branch.

The Department of Home Affairs (DHA) and major banks first rolled out this option via the eHomeAffairs portal and select bank branches in 2016.

The facility has expanded to about 30 locations, including branches from Absa, Discovery Bank, FNB, Investec, Nedbank, and Standard Bank.

MyBroadband recently tested the service at two FNB branches.

For one tester, the entire passport renewal process at the branch — including biometric checks and document collection — took around 15 minutes. The second tester spent about an hour at another branch.

Overall, they found it was a massive improvement over the horrorshow that many experience at regular DHA offices, which offer a myriad of other services.

To use eHomeAffairs, customers must have a bank account that supports accepting payment requests from the portal.

They must also visit a branch of the same bank for biometric verification, which includes scanning their fingerprints and taking a photo.

Capitec and TymeBank are the only major banks with no eHomeAffairs support.

However, there are several low-fee bank accounts from Absa, Discovery Bank, FNB, Nedbank, and Standard Bank that can be opened for this purpose.

With monthly fees starting from around R5.00 for regular customers, this could be an option if you would rather not dare to visit a regular Home Affairs office.

This option is also available to customers with one of the other major banks that might not have an eHomeAffairs-enabled branch in their province.

For example, the only branch available to Discovery Bank customers is at its head office in Sandton.

Nedbank is also the only bank with an eHomeAffairs branch in Mpumalanga, while FNB has the only branch in Limpopo.

The table below summarises the bank branches that support Smart ID and passport renewal services and what low-cost bank account you can use to access the service at those branches.