Dept Home Affairs Bronkhorstspruit

Went to apply for an unabridged birth certificate. We did not wait in long queues, the staff were helpful and efficient. Overall, a surprisingly speedy process. Only negatives were the street parking and the shoddy toilets, but that is to be expected.

The most painful and horrible experience. I watched families with infants sitting for hours to get a passport or help. I watched another family put at the back of the queue with 2 children to sit all day and by the time I finished 6 hours later they had still not had their photo taken and they were randomly calling people and not in order was they should of been before me. I watched how the staff who were meant to service us all get up and take a 2 hour lunch. Video available. I saw and tried to help with the photo PC and saw they were running illegal unregistered version of Windows 7. How is this possible when the tender for upgrades required genuine Microsoft software? The staff were shouting. People got unruly outside they had to close the doors. You felt like your life in danger. The screens did not work. Not from load shedding. People shouting numbers. No one knew what is happening. But the best part is close to closing time as we were lucky to finally be processed a child and father walking in just before 3 wearing the famous ANC regalia uniforms for processed and pushed in front of us to pay and leave all in less then 30 minutes. Wow. What has South Africa become!

Mr. David Thipe and team... Your passion to serve the community at Bronkhorstspruit Home Affairs is appreciated! Thank you for assisting me with managing my online application which was messed up at Menlyn Home Affairs on the 29 June 2023. Keep up the great work! Thank you

N.B! Take your ID book/card, proof of residence and a lot of patience: You can also register for ID/passports via the FNB web page, but really all that this does is help you process the payment online and avoid standing in the final cashier queue. As far as departments of home affairs go, I’d say this one is the best of a bad bunch. My wife has had good i.e. fast service time experiences here, but I haven’t – perhaps it was just a bit of bad luck and bad timing going there a day after the midweek public holiday. They were short staffed and we sat for AGES waiting to be helped. Then, when we thought we were close to being helped lunch time kicked in – in government, you take your full hour lunch break and the world can stop turning – so be warned. The area is not too bad if you compare it to e.g. the Kempton Park office, but I do wonder why government are intent on having buildings that loop dilapidated totally stuffed up…. It’s like we say we’re proud of our Country, but our actions don’t seem to match our stated pride levels…I digress…if you must go to a DOH, this is the better option.

Good morning, I just want to express my sincere gratitude to the Supervisor, David Thipe, at the Bronkhorstspruit DHA. My daughter and I visited the the DHA on Monday, 8th May 2023, to collect my daughter's passport which she urgently needed in order to fly back to Rwanda where she lives. When we arrived we were told that the the DHA nation-wide was offline. We waited the whole day for the system to be restored but by the time 15h30 closing time came, they were still offline. Staff started to leave and started to lock up, and everyone except me and my daughter and 3 other people 2 needing to collect their passports urgently and 1 needing his ID urgently left. David did not ask us to leave - instead, he said he would try the system one more time - and he found that the system was slowly coming back online. He was just amazing! He stayed late until after 17h00 and kindly assisted all of us to get the our passports and the one ID. We cannot thank him enough for his kind assistance - going far beyond the call of duty - we applaud him for his dedication and courteous assistance. I must also mention that while the system was offline, David patiently and politely handled all complaints and demands made by all the people waiting for service. He never once lost his cool - he was just awesome! I have never before witnessed service like this before at any DHA. Thank you David!!!!

This branch is excellent with service. All steps run so so smoothly. I applied for passports, they did mine plus my 2 kiddies passport within 30min and i was put again. Excellent, thank you.

Some tips for Passport application... 1. Take the time to do everything online plus booking an appointment 8:00 to 9:00 the system is frustrating... I KNOW! 2. Be there just before they open at 8:00 Write you name in the book at the security outside. 3. Wait at reception till they call your name. 4. Give I'd number 5. Receive sticker. 6. Go to photo booth. Take pictcha... 7. Sit at applications seats 8. Listen to them calling your surname or number on sticker. 9. Give them your ID card, finger prints. 10. Go pay at cashier. 11. Go home. All done in 45 minutes. Collections... 1. We got there at 14:00 2. Write name in book at security outside. 3. Go to reception say "I'm here to collect" 4. Give them your I'd number. 5. Receive sticker. 6. Sit at collections seat. 7. Listen to them calling your surname or number on sticker. 8. Take prints 9. Take Passport. 10. Go home. All done in 45 minutes.

I applied for my passport in Oct 2022 and it was pretty seamless, done in just under an hour on a Monday afternoon. However, since then haven't heard a thing, no notification to say it's ready, nothing. Have looked on the website but there doesn't seem to be a portal to do a self-check. Have emailed all the contacts I can see on the site and no response. Of course no one is answering any phone numbers I try. How do I find out if the passport is ready, don't really want to waste time and money to get there and then it's not there.

All in all a good experience. Took 4 days for minor passport from application to being ready. Some tips: 1. Book an appointment via BABS on Home Affairs website for ID or passport application. 2. I would book an appointment as early as possible as from 12-1 they go on skeleton staff and things do slow down. 3. If booking an appointment for a minor's passport make sure to book it under the minor's ID use your email and phone number. I used my ID and it resulted in me joining the normal walk-in queue. 4. When collecting, there are no appointments, so try get there early. They open at 8am so aim to be there around 7am. They capture you on the system and then you get helped quite quickly. 5. Try to not collect on a Monday. 6. If you capture an application via the eHomeAffairs site and have paid you can still make an appointment at a normal home affairs and not the bank. The eHomeAffairs site will say you must bring a print out of the bar coded application but this is no longer relevant. Just bring ID's, birth certificates, etc. 7. You also don't need to worry about certified copies of ID's as they will do it there for you.

My passport was stolen. Needed to travel within 4 days from application for a new one. Although they told me that it wasn't possible to speed up the process, my password was nevertheless issued in 2 days. Thank you. GREAT office!