How to Check Marital Status in South Africa
Your marital status is one of the core facts the Department of Home Affairs keeps against your 13-digit ID number in the National Population Register (NPR). It records whether you are unmarried, married, divorced or widowed, and it follows your identity number for life. Banks, embassies, conveyancers and prospective spouses all rely on it, which is exactly why it is worth knowing how to check it yourself and how to verify someone else's when you have a lawful reason to.
Checking your own marital status is no longer the R1 SMS it once was: Home Affairs has switched that line off, and the official route now runs through a Home Affairs office. This guide covers every official route, what the result actually tells you, how to deal with the disturbingly common problem of fraudulent marriages, and how to verify another person's status without breaking the law.
Marriage status or marital status: the same Home Affairs record
A marriage status check and a marital status check are the same thing. There is no separate marriage status database in South Africa. "Marital status" is the wording the Department of Home Affairs uses on the National Population Register, while "marriage status" is the everyday phrasing most people search for, so a Home Affairs marriage status check and a marital status check return an identical answer read from an identical record.
This is worth knowing before you start, because official pages are worded one way and everyday guidance the other, and searching the wrong phrase can leave you hunting for a service that does not exist. Whichever phrase you began with, the routes in the next section are the ones Home Affairs itself supports today, and they read directly from the population register rather than from a third-party copy.
The four marital status types in South Africa
Home Affairs records one of four states for every South African on the population register:
- Unmarried - you have never had a marriage registered, or a previous marriage has been fully removed from your record.
- Married - a civil marriage, customary marriage or civil union has been registered against your ID number. The record usually includes the date of marriage.
- Divorced - a court has granted a decree of divorce and Home Affairs has updated the register. Your status only changes once the decree reaches the NPR.
- Widowed - your spouse has died and the death has been registered, so your status moves from married to widowed.
Your marital status is a separate field from your ID number itself. Getting married, divorced or widowed never changes your 13-digit number. If you want to understand what each digit of that number actually means, you can run any ID through the free ID number validator on our homepage, which checks the structure and Luhn check digit instantly.
How to check your own marital status
Home Affairs has narrowed the ways to check your own status. The Department of Home Affairs has said there is currently no public self-service system for marital status checks, so the official route runs through a Home Affairs office. Two older shortcuts that many guides still recommend no longer work, as explained below.
1. In person at a Home Affairs office (the official route)
Visit any Home Affairs branch with your green ID book or smart ID card and ask an official to confirm your marital status, or request an official marital status printout (sometimes called a marriage record, or a letter of no impediment when you need proof you are single). In a response published by MyBroadband on 1 June 2026, Home Affairs said these checks "must be conducted through an official Home Affairs office, where the necessary verification can be performed through authorised departmental processes". Banks, courts and foreign embassies often insist on the stamped printout in any case. You can find your nearest office through our guide to Home Affairs branches.
2. The Home Affairs contact centre
The Home Affairs contact centre can answer questions about your record and tell you what to bring, but given the department's own statement, expect the check itself to be done at an office.
What about the SMS to 32551 and eHomeAffairs?
The SMS line on 32551, where you typed the letter M and your ID number, has been switched off. Home Affairs confirmed to MyBroadband that it decommissioned the line after criminals misused it for phishing and other fraud. Older articles, and some search summaries, still describe it as working. If you receive a message that claims to come from that service, treat it with suspicion. For ID and passport applications, Home Affairs now sends automatic SMS updates at key stages instead.
The eHomeAffairs portal is built for smart ID and passport applications and bookings. It is not a marital status check, so do not expect to see your status there.
What the marital status check tells you
A marital status check returns three useful pieces of information: your current status (unmarried, married, divorced or widowed), the date of marriage if you are recorded as married, and the type of marriage on record where applicable. If the status looks wrong, do not ignore it. An out-of-date or fraudulent record can block a property transfer, a home loan, a new marriage or a visa application at the worst possible moment.
Fraudulent marriages: check even if you have never married
Home Affairs receives a large number of fraudulent and illegal marriage reports every year. It happens more often than most people expect: a syndicate uses a stolen or copied ID to register a marriage, or an unscrupulous partner registers a customary marriage without the other person's knowledge or consent. Many victims only discover it years later when they try to marry someone else, apply for a spousal visa, or buy property and are told they are already married in community of property to a stranger.
Because a fraudulent marriage can sit on your record for years without you knowing, it is worth confirming your own status at a Home Affairs office at least once, especially before a wedding, a bond application or an immigration process. If your status comes back as married and you never married, or married to the wrong person, lodge a dispute at a Home Affairs office immediately. You will need to complete the prescribed forms and provide supporting evidence. Home Affairs then investigates and, where fraud is confirmed, cancels the fraudulent marriage. The sooner you report it, the easier it is to unwind.
A one-off check only tells you about today. If you would rather not have to remember to look, FraudGuard re-checks your Home Affairs record every month and emails you if your marital status changes.
How to check someone else's marital status
This is where people run into a wall. The official Home Affairs route is strictly self-service: the department confirms a status to the person it belongs to, after checking their identity, so you cannot use it to check a partner, an employee or a business counterpart. Yet there are entirely legitimate reasons to verify another person's marital status:
- Before you marry. Confirming a prospective spouse is genuinely unmarried protects you from unknowingly entering a bigamous marriage, which is void.
- Property and community of property. A spouse married in community of property must consent to major transactions. Conveyancers and lenders verify marital status before a transfer or bond goes through.
- Due diligence and fraud prevention. Verifying a counterpart's status can be part of wider identity and background checks in a deal or relationship.
To do this lawfully you need consent or another lawful basis under POPIA, which is overseen by the Information Regulator, and a verification service that asks you to declare that basis before it runs the check. That is how our Marital Status Check report works: you declare your purpose at checkout, enter the ID number, and receive the marital status recorded for that number (married, single, divorced or widowed), with the person's names and date of birth so you can confirm you have the right person. It covers the cases the official self-service route was never designed for. If you are not sure which report you need, our full reports page lists every verification option in one place.
Verifying identity often goes hand in hand with confirming who a person really is. If you only have a name or a phone number to start from, see our guides to searching by name and surname and running a phone number trace, and to the broader question of verifying a South African ID number.
Fixing an incorrect marital status
An incorrect status usually comes from one of three causes, and each has a fix:
- Divorce not registered. Your status only changes once your decree of divorce reaches Home Affairs. If you are still shown as married after a divorce, take a certified copy of the decree to a Home Affairs office so the NPR can be updated. Our guide to the divorce process in South Africa explains the full sequence.
- Spouse deceased. If your late spouse's death was never registered, your status stays married. Registering the death updates you to widowed.
- Fraud. Report a fraudulent marriage as above so it can be investigated and cancelled.
Once the record is corrected, you can request an updated printout for banks, courts or embassies. If you are planning a wedding, our guides to getting married in South Africa and the marriage certificate walk through the process and the documents you will need.
Marital status and your ID number
It is worth repeating the point that catches many people out: your marital status is a field in the National Population Register, but your 13-digit ID number never changes when you marry, divorce or are widowed. The number is issued once and stays with you for life. What changes is the status attached to it. That is why a marital status check always starts with the ID number, and why keeping the record accurate matters so much. You can confirm any South African ID number is structurally valid, free and in seconds, using the ID validator tool on our homepage before you rely on it for a marriage, a transfer or a verification.
Frequently asked questions
Can I check my marital status online?
Not through an official Home Affairs channel. The department has said there is currently no public self-service system for marital status checks, the SMS line to 32551 has been switched off, and eHomeAffairs handles smart ID and passport applications rather than status checks. The official route is a visit to a Home Affairs office.
Does the SMS to 32551 still work?
No. Home Affairs decommissioned the 32551 SMS line after criminals misused it for phishing and other fraud, as the department confirmed to MyBroadband in June 2026. Some older articles and search summaries still describe it as working. Confirm your status at a Home Affairs office instead, and treat any message claiming to come from the old SMS service with suspicion.
Can I check if I am still married?
Yes. A Home Affairs office can confirm whether you are recorded as married, divorced or widowed. If you divorced but are still shown as married, your decree of divorce has probably not reached Home Affairs yet, and you should take a certified copy to a branch.
Can I check whether another person is married?
Not through Home Affairs, which confirms a status only to the person it belongs to. To verify someone else's marital status lawfully you need consent or another lawful basis under POPIA, declared to a verification service such as a Marital Status Check report, which returns the marital status recorded for the ID number.
How do I prove I am single for a marriage abroad?
Request an official marital status printout, or a letter of no impediment, in person at a Home Affairs office. Foreign authorities usually require this stamped document, and it may need to be apostilled for use overseas.
What if my marital status is wrong because of a fraudulent marriage?
Report it to Home Affairs immediately. Complete the prescribed forms, provide identity documents and any supporting evidence, and Home Affairs will investigate and cancel the marriage if fraud is confirmed. Acting quickly makes the record easier to correct.
How do I check my marriage status online?
Marriage status and marital status are one record, so the answer is the same: there is currently no official online check. A Home Affairs office can confirm whether you are recorded as unmarried, married, divorced or widowed.
Can I check my marriage status for free?
There is no longer a free remote check: the SMS line to 32551 has been switched off and Home Affairs offers no online marital status service. The official route is to ask at a Home Affairs office. Be wary of any message or site offering the old SMS check, because the line was shut down precisely because fraudsters were abusing it. A paid report is only needed when you have a lawful basis to check somebody else's status.