South Africa’s Department of Home Affairs is ending the green ID book as a valid identity document. Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber announces that green ID books cease to be valid on 31 March 2028, and the department stops producing them in March 2027.
The reporting agrees that production ends about a year before the final validity date. Outlets characterize the policy as a formal transition away from the paper booklet, with people needing to switch to other forms of identity documentation before the deadline. One source also adds a figure for the scale of the change, stating that about 14.7 million people will need to move off the green ID book, while other reports focus more narrowly on the dates and ministerial announcement.
