In July 2025, South Africa’s Department of Home Affairs launched five international service centres to reduce passport processing times for expatriates to five weeks. The rollout includes:

  • Australia: Sydney and Melbourne centres opened on July 16 and 18, 2025, serving 200,000 South Africans, with Perth planned for September 2025.
  • New Zealand: Auckland and Wellington centres launched in July 2025, catering to 70,000 South Africans.
  • United Kingdom: An existing London centre (since June 2022) was integrated, with Manchester and Edinburgh offices supporting 250,000 South Africans.
  • Future Expansion: Centres in the UAE and China are planned for late 2025, followed by France, Germany, and the Netherlands. The US and Canada will see facilities in early 2026, serving over 100,000 South Africans.

This initiative aims to address delays of up to 18 months, enhancing access for the global South African diaspora.

The international service centres have far-reaching implications for South Africa’s diaspora, estimated at over 900,000 people globally:

  • Improved Access: Expatriates no longer need to rely on overstretched embassies or consulates, which often required long-distance travel or indefinite waits. The centres’ strategic locations in major expatriate hubs like Sydney, London, and Auckland make services more accessible.
  • Restored Dignity: Schreiber’s emphasis on dignity resonates with expatriates who felt neglected by slow, opaque processes. The five-week turnaround and SMS tracking provide predictability and respect for applicants’ time.
  • Economic and Social Benefits: Faster passport processing enables South Africans abroad to travel, work, and maintain legal status without disruption. Birth registration services ensure that children born overseas can secure citizenship promptly.
  • Digital Future: The planned “Home Affairs @ Home” platform promises to further revolutionize access, potentially allowing expatriates to apply from anywhere with an internet connection, a game-changer for remote communities.

These features address key pain points, such as long wait times, lack of transparency, and the need to travel for consular services, which previously required appointments at overstretched embassies or missions.

The new international service centres, launched in July 2025, aim to streamline passport and civic service applications for South Africans abroad. These centres, operated in partnership with VFS Global, a global leader in visa and consular services, offer a range of features designed to enhance efficiency, transparency, and accessibility:

  • Five-Week Turnaround Time: The most significant improvement is the reduction of passport processing times from 12–18 months to just five weeks for both adult and minor passports (new applications and renewals). This applies to applications submitted through the new centres, a dramatic improvement over the previous system.
  • Services Offered:
    • Passport Applications and Renewals: The centres handle intake and processing for adult passports (for citizens with a 13-digit ID book or Smart ID card) and child passports (for those under 15 years and 9 months with a registered South African birth certificate).
    • Birth Registration: South Africans abroad can register child births, a critical service for ensuring citizenship documentation.
    • Future Expansion: The centres are set to incorporate Smart ID card applications once the DHA’s eHomeAffairs live capture system is upgraded, eliminating paper-based forms. An announcement on this upgrade is expected in late 2025.

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