On 23 June 2025, the Minister of Home Affairs issued an amendment to the Regulations under the Identification Act 68 of 1997 (Regulations) publishing an increase in the costs for the “furnishing of information from the population register” (i.e. ID verifications).

The current price of real-time ID verifications is R0.15, but with effect from 1 July 2025, the price for ID verifications will increase as follows:

• R10 per transaction for real-time ID verifications; and
• R1 per transaction for “non-live batch verifications” that take place during off-peak hours.
• No charges are applied to ID verifications by State departments, municipalities and statutory bodies.

The verification of identity documents is governed by the Regulations and the amendment to the Regulations was published in Government Gazette No. 52893 (notice No. 6336) on 23 June 2025.

Reasons for the increased cost

Since 2013, the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) has provided a service, known as the online verification system (OVS), which allows third parties to verify identities and other biographical information against the National Population Register (NPR).

In a statement issued on 23 June 2025, the DHA stated that an increase in the price of ID verifications was necessary because the current price is unsustainably low. The DHA also stated that the under-pricing of ID verifications has led to “profiteering and abuses by some users”, which in turn overwhelms the OVS and the NPR and causes failure rates in excess of 50%. The DHA claims that this has also contributed to “system offline” failures at Home Affairs offices.

The DHA also announced that on 1 July 2025, the rollout of an upgraded NPR verification service will begin that aims to grant companies and government users the ability to verify identities with first-class speed and reliability. These upgrades to the OVS and NPR system (and the accompanying maintenance costs) are also among the reasons for the increased pricing in ID verifications. The upgraded OVS is said to produce a function which is sleek, modern, performs in real-time and reduces the failure rate to below 1%. The new system will also introduce an option for users to do “non-live batch verifications” during off-peak hours at a significantly lower fee than real-time verifications (i.e. R1 vs R10 – a 90% difference).

Where the purpose of the Regulations may have the effect of the existing DHA IT systems not continuously being “offline”, it is to be welcomed. Only time will tell whether this intended purpose is ultimately achieved.