Schreiber announces plans to digitalize all Internal Affairs services

Schreiber announced plans to digitalize the internal affairs services on Monday, as he marked his 100th day in office.

This new approach is called Home Affairs @ home.

“Our vision is that over the next five years, all department services will be fully automated, digitized and delivered online to our customers’ fingertips from the comfort of their homes,” Schreiber said.

“Rather than going to Home Affairs, our vision under the National Unity Government is to entrust Home Affairs to you.”

He said these services would also be made available to foreign nationals wishing to visit South Africa.

“Instead of endless paperwork and manual processes, travelers wishing to visit sunny South Africa will also need to register a profile on the secure online platform in order to submit an electronic travel authorization application.

“The application should be processed instantly, requiring human intervention only if an anomaly is detected by the machine. As part of the ETA application process, travelers will need to provide their biometric data to the Home Office.”

Schreiber added that documents such as passports and IDs will also be available in digital format on customers’ secure online profiles.

In August, the minister warned that the department’s outdated, paper-based systems left it vulnerable to fraud, corruption and identity theft.

“Using the latest machine learning technology, the risk engine will instantly detect fraudulent documents or those that have been reused across multiple applications.”

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