The home affairs department plans to progressively digitise all visa and permit categories over the next three years, with full implementation anticipated in the 2028 financial year, home affairs minister Leon Schreiber said.
The first step was the implementation of the electronic travel authorisation (ETA) system, which had made substantial progress, the minister said in a written reply to a parliamentary question by DA spokesperson on home affairs Adrian Roos.
An ETA is a digital authorisation that allows prospective travellers from eligible visa-required countries to travel to South Africa for tourism or visitor purposes, without the need for a traditional visitor’s visa. Visa-exempt travellers can also apply for an ETA to ease their processing at the border.
“A functional prototype (for the ETA) has been developed and demonstrated, incorporating biometric verification, risk-based assessment, traveller validation, and mobile verification capabilities. The system was successfully deployed for the processing of G20 delegates at three key airports: OR Tambo International, Cape Town International and Lanseria,” Schreiber said.
“The next steps include expanding the required infrastructure to all ports of entry, with procurement currently under way in consultation with the Border Management Authority and the South African Revenue Service.
“This infrastructure expansion aims to strengthen the resilience and reliability of processing environments for both arrivals and departures. In parallel, the department is deploying a modernised movement control system that uses facial recognition as the primary biometric modality across all ports of entry,” he said.
“Once these deployments are completed, development work on the payment portal and the introduction of additional visa categories will follow in the next financial year,” Schreiber said.
Replying to another question by MK party MP Sihle Ngubane on the modernisation of the National Population Register (NPR), Schreiber said the project had been incorporated into the department’s digital transformation roadmap as a key strategic objective.
“The department has already developed the architectural foundations of a fully digitised NPR as part of the broader digital identity programme. This includes updated digital identity architecture, enhanced biometric capabilities, improved live-capture processes, secure data-exchange frameworks, and the basis for a digital identity wallet capable of issuing verifiable credentials.”
The minister said the first phase was focused on finalising long-term contractual arrangements with the department’s biometric partners. This was being implemented concurrently with the creation of a unified platform that consolidated both citizen and traveller information in a single, secure view.
“The department anticipates concluding the foundational development and contractual components of the new NPR by the end of the 2027/28 financial year,” Schreiber said.
He added that the department was currently implementing an infrastructure refresh programme to replace outdated IT infrastructure. He noted that some legacy servers and systems had historically operated on outdated platforms due to many years of underinvestment and the age of core population and immigration systems.
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