Department of Home Affairs Somerset West

It's very sad that you spend your entire day waiting at a Home affairs office. Our 3rd day of being turned away. Time and money wasted. They tell you to wait then tell you to leave. People no longer have pride in their work or sympathy. One lady came here at 2.30am and they turned her away. Why do they put walk ins welcome if you're not welcome. They have attitude forgetting you're a client. This country is rotting away. Best to get out of here. There's no customer service no care no concern.

The appointment system does not work at all. I waited for the full hour of my appointment before being put into a que for photos and biometric info. I think going early morning would have probably heeded the same result. Though some of the staff were at least friendly and helpful, there seems to be no honoring of your appointment time whatsoever. Had I not badgered the lady at the door, I would have probably not gotten in at all.

My family of four(dad, mom and two kids...7 and 10), needed updated passports and id's. We filled in the forms online but were unable to book an appointment(our bank was not on the list of payment choices, so we were stumped). We took the plunge and decided to face the queues with enthusiasm on Wednesday 14 September 2022! Armed with all the documentation(clearly indicated online, so we had no excuse for arriving with the wrong info.....I had noticed many complaints about this on the reviews, but I assumed most people complaining had difficulty reading instructions.....then took out their frustration on a civil servant trying to do their job).We took books for the kids, snacks and water. We left home at 0830. Arrived at Home Affairs, Somerset West at 0930. The queues were long and seemed that we would never get in. I asked the security what to do and he directed me to the right line.....they have separate queues for births/deaths/marriage(they get prioritised), collections (they are seen last in the day), id/passport(probably 30 people ahead of us) and the saddest and longest queue is for UIF(the desperate state of our economy made me feel rather sad and I was suddenly very aware of the the sheer number of unemployed people waiting patiently for their turn).We stood outside for 90 minutes, in the blazing sun.....there is very little shade. The only people complaining were Karens" who walked up and down

The staff that were in attendance were friendly and helpful. Only half the available desks had people working. Appoint more people!Unfortunately the queue to get anything done is ridiculous.3 hours for ID. 7 hours for passport.

We arrived at 6 in the morning, they say they open at 8 but only opened their doors at 8:30, stood there for about 8 to 9 hours.They only took bookings in, and even when they had almost next to no one inside the building, they wouldn't let the people without bookings go in (even though on their website they say they allow walk ins)At one point there was only one single person behind the counter. They allowed random people to walk in and go sit inside while they people in the queue get no assistance. And when questioned about it they just say that they didn't see. They refused multiple people to use the rest room because they were standing outside and the facilities are only for people inside. (although I got the chance to go, no toilet paper and it doesn't flush). They are rude and keep telling the walk-in people to leave.I strongly advise making a booking (if you are able to)But even then you can wait a half hour or an hour.Worst service ever. Some people don't have access to internet or much less to say smartphones. I feel like it's slight discrimination towards those people, since if you go as a walk-in you have less than 5% chance to be helped.

I was only here to collect my passport after applying online and doing my photos and fingerprints in Grabouw. I arrived at 7am and there were already about 15 other people in front of me in the collection line in front of the building. The security was polite and pointed out the lines when we asked where we needed to be. There was some sort of miscommunication though, because at one point we ended up in the pensioner line? After getting in, it took about 40 minutes until I was able to get my passport, sign for it and leave. I was back at work by 10am. The staff were polite, which was nice. But the system is not very well managed. Also, loadshedding...

I was blown away by the excellence of this office. I got to know many of the agents, especially Colin, due to a unique issue on the system that dragged out my passport application and could only be rectified from Pretoria.The internal cooperation was impressive. They were diligent and professional. I experienced courtesy, even personal warmth, from these people. I shall remember them with deep appreciation and admiration for the care with which they do a very difficult job. They are heroes.

My mother who has health issues has had to stand in the UIF line since 5:30am till the end of the day and was stopped just before the door. They instead decided to let people in from the back of the line...because that makes sense. Loadshedding doesn't make this better because they can't be bothered to install solar or generators. This means you need to stand in the line and basically waste 2 hours till the line starts creeping forward again. By the time the line starts moving its near to closing time for them, because 3:30pm is a reasonable time to close a place that gets the amount of foot traffic it does. She's gone multiple times since and STILL NO SERVICE. She's tried registering online and still hasn't received an email after the fact. We tried registering again today and it seems the site is down. How can a system be this broken and useless?

My mother went to Somerset West Home affairs in 2020 to apply for unabridged birth certificate, however till this day she has never received it. I called the head office they are saying it was never captured. It’s very unfair to receive this bad service. When my mother goes there they are always telling her it is not yet out yet they are lying, it was not captured.

Re: Passport collection after receiving SMS to collect. Went to collect on 18 April 2023 08:00 at Somerset West. Finished 08:15. Very efficient, very quiet, excellent crowd control outside and inside building, zero confusion. No appointment for collection arranged. Extremely well done!