Correcting a date of birth or gender, then a new Smart ID
In short. A wrong date of birth or a wrong recorded sex is corrected at Home Affairs, before a new Smart ID. Official pages do not all use the same form, the same documents or the same fee.
A common question is whether a bank can fix a Smart ID that shows the wrong date of birth, or the wrong sex or gender, and whether that fix is the same thing as changing a forename or a surname. It is not. A forename or a surname is on Name or surname change. This page sets out what the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) amendments page, the fees page, the Births and Deaths Registration Act as amended in 2010, the 2014 regulations, the Alteration of Sex Description and Sex Status Act 49 of 2003, and each bank page actually say.
The official pages do not use one word. The amendments page says "Gender Rectification". gov.za lists both "change your gender" and "rectify the date of birth, gender or place of birth", and it does not print documents or fees [source]. The Act and the form say "sex description" or "sex recorded on the birth register". This page keeps each source's word.
A bank does not amend the record
On the Digital Partnership page, amendments to personal details are not yet available at bank branches. Clients who need those services must visit a Home Affairs office. The services that page does list are Smart ID card re-issues (lost, stolen or damaged) and green ID book to Smart ID card replacements [source].
Standard Bank's own question is what happens if your ID contains incorrect information. The answer is that you must follow the Department of Home Affairs amendment process at one of their offices [source]. The same page refuses a change of surname, and it does list a Smart ID after a surname has already been changed for marriage or divorce. Those sentences are compared on Name or surname change. The incorrect-information answer does not say date of birth, sex, gender, or place of birth.
| Bank page read on this check | What it names | A date of birth or a recorded sex |
|---|---|---|
| Capitec, article dated 11/03/2026 | Smart ID replacements only: a lost, stolen or damaged card, or a green ID book replaced with a Smart ID. First-time IDs are not available in branch [source]. | Not stated by source. |
| Standard Bank | If the ID contains incorrect information, follow the Department of Home Affairs amendment process at one of their offices [source]. | The correction itself: at a Home Affairs office. A date of birth, a sex, or a gender in the in-branch or online service list: not stated by source. |
| FNB | Apply or renew a Smart ID or passport through eHomeAffairs, or replace a lost, stolen or damaged Smart ID with no appointment [source]. | Not stated by source. |
| Absa | Renew a Smart ID: book online, book in the app, or walk in [source]. | Not stated by source. |
| Nedbank | Nedbank lists what is printed on the card: surname, first names, sex, nationality, identity number, date of birth, country of birth, a photograph on the front and another on the back, and a signature. Nedbank says you must check with DHA for the requirements of an ID application, and that Nedbank is not otherwise involved [source]. | A way to correct sex, date of birth or country of birth: not stated by source. |
One form, three citations
Act 18 of 2010 substitutes section 7(2) of the Births and Deaths Registration Act 51 of 1992. If, in the course of the administration of the Act, it comes to the attention of the Director-General that any particulars in a document submitted or preserved under the Act, or included in the population register, are not correctly reflected, the Director-General may supplement and rectify those particulars in consultation with the person. Section 7(4), which the same Act adds, says any person may apply, in the prescribed manner, for the amendment or rectification of his or her particulars furnished under the Act [source].
The 1992 Act PDF on gov.za still prints the earlier section 7. That text does not contain subsection (4) [source]. The 2010 substitution is the later text.
Section 7(3), as substituted in 2010, says a person who holds a certificate or other document issued under the Act, which does not correctly reflect the particulars, shall within the prescribed period hand it to the Director-General for rectification, or send it by registered post [source]. The number of days in that subsection: not stated. Regulation 31(1) says the holder, or a parent, next-of-kin or legal guardian, must hand the certificate over if requested to do so. A number of days in regulation 31(1): not stated [source].
The 2014 regulations use Form DHA-526, Annexure 12, for two applications [source]:
- Regulation 19: an application for alteration of sex description under section 27A must be made on Form DHA-526.
- Regulation 31(2): an application for amendment or rectification of particulars under section 7(4) must be on Form DHA-526.
The form itself is headed "Application for verification, supplementation or rectification of personal particulars", and the line under the heading cites section 7(2), not section 7(4) and not section 27A. It must be completed in black ink and in block letters. An application that is not legible shall not be accepted [source].
The instructions on the form say [source]:
- If the person is 18 or older, that person completes and signs the form.
- If the person is under 18, the parent or legal guardian completes and signs it.
- Documentary proof of the correct particulars must be submitted with the form within seven days of issue of the particulars sought to be verified, supplemented or rectified.
- The person should apply for a new identity document at the nearest regional or district representative of the Department of Home Affairs.
The form asks for a reason. It says you may not write a one-word explanation such as "personal" or "professional". If you do, the application cannot be processed. The reason is taken into account, and you will be asked for documents to substantiate it. The correct particulars must be reflected in the birth register, the identity document, or both [source].
The amendments page says the forms it mentions are provided at a Home Affairs office, unless otherwise specified. Its date of birth block and its gender rectification block do not name Form DHA-526 [source].
The tick labels that can be read on Form DHA-526 include surname rectification, date of birth, sex description in terms of section 2 of Act 49 of 2003, parents' particulars, false registration (particulars of incorrect parents), sex recorded on the birth register, forename rectification, and place of birth rectification. The form is set in columns. This page lists those labels. It does not assign a label to a box the extraction does not show. A further word, "Rectification", is also printed without a noun beside it in the text of the form, so this page does not attach it to a field [source].
The official-use list of documents submitted with the form names proof of payment, a copy of the applicant's birth certificate, a copy of the child's birth certificate if applicable, affidavits by all parties concerned in the case of a false registration, a new DHA-24 in the case of a false registration, medical reports in the case of a sex description under Act 49 of 2003 from two separate doctors, proof of guardianship if applicable, and "other, specify" [source].
A date of birth
The amendments page has its own block, "Date of birth", under section 7(2). It does not name Form DHA-526, and it does not say the correction is free if the department made the error. The gender block, below, is the one that says that [source].
| What the amendments page asks for | Who that line covers |
|---|---|
| Birth certificate or identity document copy of the applicant. A certified identity document copy or birth certificate of the applicant. A certified copy of the mother's identity document [source]. | The block prints these before it splits by year. |
| A clinic card and maternity certificate/school register from primary school, with the correct date of birth [source]. | From 1990. The page writes the slash. It does not say whether the school register replaces the maternity certificate. |
| A handwritten birth certificate with a birth entry number, or a house permit, or a TBVC (homelands) document, or an abridged marriage certificate, or travel documents, or a reference book, with the correct date of birth [source]. | The page's own year line is "1980 to 1960", written in that order. TBVC (homelands) is the page's label. It does not spell the letters out. |
| Any of the documents above, and an office recommendation signed by a screening committee of three members, with their Persal numbers, on a letterhead with the office stamp. The recommendation must support one of those documents [source]. | 1950. Persal is not defined on that line. The recommendation on its own: the page says it must be a supporting document. |
| Applicable fee [source]. | A rand amount in the block: not stated. The fees page is below. |
Regulation 6 is about a notice of birth that has just been approved. Regulation 6(2) says a person who is issued with a birth certificate must check it and, if it is incorrect, return it to the Director-General within 7 days of receipt, for rectification under section 7. Regulation 6(7) says the date of birth or the identity number allocated to that child or person may not be rectified after that 7-day period [source].
The form's seven days are different words: proof must be submitted within seven days of issue of the particulars sought to be corrected [source]. The amendments page's year bands, including 1950, do not mention seven days [source].
A processing time: not stated on the amendments page, on the form, or on the fees page [source, source, source].
A recorded sex, and a change of sex description
gov.za lists "change your gender" and "rectify the date of birth, gender or place of birth" as separate items, on a page that does not print the documents [source]. The amendments page has one gender block, under section 7(2). Act 49 of 2003 is a different statute. The form has a tick for each.
| Source | What it asks for | What it does not ask for |
|---|---|---|
| DHA amendments page, "Gender Rectification", section 7(2) | Birth certificate or identity document copy of the applicant. A copy of the marriage certificate. A certified identity document or birth certificate of the applicant. A certified copy of the mother's identity document for minor children. Proof of a clinic card, or a maternity certificate, or a recommendation from the office. Applicable fee. Free if it is a departmental error [source]. | Act 49 of 2003, a medical report, a psychologist, a social worker, Form DHA-526, and a definition of "minor" in that block: not stated. The marriage certificate is in the list. The block does not say it is only for a married applicant. |
| Form DHA-526, sex recorded on the birth register | A tick with that label. The shared instructions and the proof-of-payment and birth-certificate ticks apply to the form as a whole [source]. | A clinic card, a maternity certificate, or a marriage certificate next to that tick: not stated. |
| Form DHA-526, sex description under section 2 of Act 49 of 2003 | A tick with that label. The document list asks for medical reports, in the case of a sex description under Act 49 of 2003, from two separate doctors [source]. | A psychologist or a social worker: not on that document list. The Act's own report rules are in the next row. |
| Alteration of Sex Description and Sex Status Act 49 of 2003, section 2(1) | A person whose sexual characteristics have been altered by surgical or medical treatment, or by evolvement through natural development resulting in gender reassignment, or a person who is intersexed, may apply to the Director-General of the National Department of Home Affairs for the alteration of the sex description on his or her birth register [source]. | A bank, a Smart ID, a rand amount, and a clinic card: not stated in section 2. |
| Act 49 of 2003, section 2(2), as this gazette PDF prints it | The application must be accompanied by the birth certificate. Where sexual characteristics have been altered by surgical or medical treatment resulting in gender reassignment, it must be accompanied by reports of the nature and results of the procedures and treatment, prepared by the medical practitioners who carried them out, or by a medical practitioner with experience of such procedures and treatment. In every case of gender reassignment, it must also be accompanied by a report from a medical practitioner other than that one, who has examined the applicant to establish his or her sexual characteristics. The PDF then prints a medical report corroborating that the applicant is intersexed, and a report by a qualified psychologist or social worker that the applicant is living, and has lived stably and satisfactorily for an unbroken period of at least two years, in the gender role corresponding to the sex description sought [source]. | The PDF cites "paragraph (17)" for the other medical practitioner. It also prints a later fragment, "(d) in the case of a person who is intersexed, be accompanied by", which stops there. This page does not rebuild a clean paragraph (d) from that fragment. The form's phrase "two separate doctors" is not the Act's phrase. Section 1 defines a medical practitioner to include a person providing health services under the Acts it lists, among them the nursing, pharmacy, dental technicians, allied health and mental health statutes [source]. |
If the application is refused. Section 2(3) says the Director-General must give written reasons. The next sentence in this PDF is also numbered (3). It says the applicant may appeal to the Minister of Home Affairs. Subsection (5) says that application must be lodged with the Minister within the period printed there, which reads "1-1 days", with the documents in subsection (2) and the reasons for the refusal. Subsection (6) refers to an appeal in terms of subsection (4). This PDF does not print a subsection numbered (4) before subsection (5) [source].
If that appeal is refused, the applicant may apply to the magistrate of the district where he or she resides, for an order directing the change of sex description. That application is accompanied by the documents in subsection (2) and the reasons for the Minister's refusal. The applicant appears before the magistrate in chambers, on the date and at the time the magistrate determines, and must give any further information and proof the magistrate requires. A legal representative may assist. If the magistrate grants the application, the magistrate must issue an order directing the Director-General to alter the sex description in the birth register of the person named in the order [source].
Section 3(1) says that if the Director-General grants the application, or receives the magistrate's order, the Director-General must proceed in terms of section 27A of the Births and Deaths Registration Act. The citation printed there is "1997 (Act No. 51 of 1992)". The Births and Deaths Registration Act on gov.za is Act 51 of 1992 [source, source]. The deeming sentence in this PDF is numbered (7): a person whose sex description has been altered is deemed for all purposes to be a person of the sex description so altered, as from the date of the recording of the alteration. The following sentence is numbered (3): rights and obligations acquired before the alteration are not adversely affected [source].
Section 4 of Act 49 inserts section 27A. As this PDF renders the inserted words, they read "Alteration of sex description" and "amended birth certificate." The words between them are not in the text extracted from that file [source]. Act 18 of 2010 substitutes section 27A(1). The words it prints are: if the Director-General grants an application, made in the prescribed manner, or a magistrate issues an order under section 2 of Act 49 of 2003, the Director-General shall alter the sex description on the birth register of the person concerned. The 2010 PDF ends that sentence with an ellipsis [source].
Regulation 19 says the section 27A application is made on Form DHA-526. It does not repeat the medical reports. Those reports are on the form's document list and in Act 49 [source, source].
Place of birth, and country of birth
These two blocks sit on the amendments page with the date of birth block. Each cites section 7(2). Neither says the correction is free if it is a departmental error, and neither names Form DHA-526 [source].
| Block | What the amendments page asks for | A rand amount in the block |
|---|---|---|
| Place of birth | Birth certificate or identity document copy of the applicant, and conclusive proof of the place of birth [source]. | Applicable fee. What counts as conclusive proof: not stated in the block. |
| Country of birth | Birth certificate or identity document copy of the applicant, and TBVC (homelands) documents. If the applicant is not a South African citizen, a permanent residence certificate or a naturalisation certificate, and a copy of the passport with the correct country of birth [source]. | Applicable fee. A citizen's document, other than the TBVC documents and the birth certificate or identity document: not stated in the block. |
The form's tick list includes place of birth rectification. A country-of-birth tick: not among the labels read on this check [source]. Nedbank lists country of birth as a field printed on the card, and does not say how to correct it [source].
What you pay
Use the row for the page you are reading. The forename and surname amounts, which are different lines, stay on Name or surname change.
| Line | Amount the source states | A Smart ID in that line |
|---|---|---|
| Any amendment to the birth register, including noting an adoption, and excluding a re-registration under section 11, which is free | R70.00. The fees page is marked updated August 2026 [source]. | Not stated in that line. |
| Amendments page, date of birth, place of birth, and country of birth | Applicable fee. A rand amount, and a departmental-error waiver: not stated in those three blocks [source]. | Not stated. |
| Amendments page, gender rectification | Applicable fee, and free if it is a departmental error [source]. | Not stated. The R70.00 line on the fees page does not say the fee is waived for a departmental error [source]. |
| Identity document re-issue | R140.00 on the fees page. R140.00 on the identity documents page for a Smart ID re-issue [source, source]. | This is the re-issue line, not the amendment line. |
| A bank fee for the correction | Not stated by Capitec, Standard Bank, FNB, Absa or Nedbank. DHA says banks may charge a convenience fee, in the answer that states R140 for a Smart ID card, and that page lists amendments to personal details as not yet available [source, source, source, source, source, source]. | The R140 on those pages is the Smart ID fee the bank does state. It is not printed as the section 7 fee. |
The new identity document
Form DHA-526 says the person should apply for a new identity document at the nearest regional or district representative of Home Affairs. It says the correct particulars must be reflected in the birth register, the identity document, or both. It does not say the amendment fee includes that document, and it does not say the identity number changes [source].
The identity documents page describes a Smart ID re-issue as its own application, at R140.00, with its own document list. A date of birth, a sex, a gender, or a place of birth is not in that list [source]. Where that re-issue can be done, including which banks take a lost card or a green ID book, is on Replacing a lost or stolen Smart ID and Green ID book to Smart ID.
The Digital Partnership page still lists amendments to personal details as not yet available at those branches [source]. Standard Bank sends incorrect information to a Home Affairs office. It does not say the bank will print the card once the date of birth or the sex description has been corrected [source].
Regulation 6(7) is the sentence that names an identity number next to a date of birth, and it says both may not be rectified after the 7 days for returning a birth certificate that has just been issued [source]. Whether a later date-of-birth application on the amendments page issues a new identity number: not stated on the amendments page, in regulation 19, or in regulation 31. Regulation 16(3) says a forename change under section 24 may not amend the identity number. There is no matching sentence for a date of birth or a sex description [source, source].
Publication in the Gazette: section 27 and regulation 20 deal with a forename or a surname. The date of birth block, the gender block, and Act 49 do not state gazette publication [source, source, source, source]. The forename and surname gazette rules are on Name or surname change.
Where the official pages do not match
- Which section the form belongs to. The form header cites section 7(2). Regulation 31(2) says the section 7(4) application is on that form. Regulation 19 says the section 27A application is on the same form [source, source].
- Gender rectification and a sex description. The amendments page asks for a clinic card, a maternity certificate or an office recommendation, and a marriage certificate, under section 7(2). Act 49 asks for medical reports, and for an intersex applicant a psychologist or social worker report covering two years. The form asks for medical reports from two separate doctors and does not name the psychologist or social worker [source, source, source].
- When a date of birth can still be corrected. Regulation 6(7) says the date of birth or identity number allocated when a notice of birth is approved may not be rectified after 7 days from receipt of that birth certificate. The form says proof must arrive within seven days of issue of the particulars. The amendments page sets out documents for a birth from 1990, for 1980 to 1960, and for 1950, and it does not mention seven days [source, source].
- The fee waiver. The gender block says free if it is a departmental error. The date of birth, place of birth and country of birth blocks do not. The R70.00 birth-register line does not say it either [source, source].
- The Act 49 gazette PDF. It numbers two different sentences as subsection (3), prints "1-1 days", cites "paragraph (17)", numbers the deeming provision as (7), and cites the Births and Deaths Registration Act as 1997 while printing Act No. 51 of 1992. The inserted section 27A in that PDF does not set out a full subsection. The 2010 substitution of section 27A(1) ends in an ellipsis [source, source].
- The 1992 PDF and the 2010 Act. The 1992 PDF does not contain section 7(4). The 2010 Act adds it [source, source].
- Who is a minor. The form uses 18 for who signs. The gender block asks for the mother's identity document for minor children and does not state the age. Act 18 of 2010 defines a major, or a person of age, as a person of 18 years or older [source, source, source].
What these sources do not state
- A date of birth correction, a gender rectification, or a sex-description application at Capitec, FNB, Absa or Nedbank [source, source, source, source].
- That Standard Bank will issue the Smart ID after Home Affairs has corrected a date of birth or a sex description. The incorrect-information answer sends you to a Home Affairs office. It does not describe the card that follows [source].
- That the R70.00 amendment fee includes the R140.00 identity document [source, source].
- That a date of birth correction changes the identity number, except the limit in regulation 6(7) on a number allocated when the notice of birth was approved [source, source].
- A processing time [source, source, source].
- How many days section 7(3) means by "the prescribed period" [source].
- A number of days, written as digits, for the appeal to the Minister. The Act 49 PDF prints "1-1 days" [source].
- The parents' particulars block, the false-registration block, and the adoption block on the amendments page. This page does not copy those lists. A forename or a surname is on Name or surname change [source].
Back to the home page, fees and documents, name or surname change, and the bank pages: Capitec, Standard Bank, FNB, Absa, Nedbank.