The Extra Mile
Can I renew my SA passport at the bank?
Sunday Times Travel editor Paul Ash answers your queries
Q. I need to renew my South African passport. Is it true I can go to my bank to speed up the process? - V Shaw
A. A colleague reminded me this week that you can renew your passport online via the Home Affairs e-portal - and then pick up the new document from a "Home Affairs-enabled" branch of your bank.
The entire application and payment is done online and submitted to Home Affairs, with the new document arriving in a little more than a week.
There is one catch, however- if you don't live in Johannesburg or Pretoria and do not have Internet banking, you will still have to visit Home Affairs to have your biometric data captured.
Still, this is the way of the future and with any luck, the service could be expanded across the country.
For more information, see the Department of Home Affairs website.
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