# Regulatory Compliance Category > General Regulatory Compliance Forum >  Fica just not possible given the requirements

## Clintonb

I work on a  farm in kwazulu natal and i am trying to open a personal bank account for myself and a few other employees and given the requirements, we can't find one solution.

The fica requires a proof of address but in rural areas we don't even have a postal system and all our documents come through broadband internet.  We could also bring in a water and lights account except that we don't own the farm and our id numbers are not on the statements.  The second issue is that we don't really have a specific address like you do in town.  We can give a farm road number and farm name an portion but that's the same address for 25 people.  This can't be a new issue because surely farm workers are entitled to open an account but no one at the bank seems to know.

I tried to fica myself using a rates and taxes from a property i own in jhb but i was told they need a proof of residence and since i don't live there, it doesn't count.  The other problem is that the owner of the farm owns and runs the farm as an investment and having him travel 350km in the middle of the week on a business day to sit in a bank and prove ownership of the farm and then confirm our address just isn't going to happen.

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## AmithS

As far as I know you can get an affidavit made at a police station to use as proof of residence!

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## BusFact

> As far as I know you can get an affidavit made at a police station to use as proof of residence!


Not necessarily. Each blooming institution has its own set of rules. Sometimes it even differs from branch to branch and then worse still - which employee you get to deal with.

I don't believe that the farm owner will need to actually visit the bank. I have no property in my name so have always had to get proof of residence from whoever I happened to be living with. The procedure is generally as follows:

 - Make copies of my ID.
 - Make copies of the owners ID and proof of their residence (eg water and lights) on which you live.
 - Fill out the bank specific form for cohabitation.
 - Take the orginal documents of all the above (this is one possible pitfall for you as the owner needs to trust you with his ID book) to the bank. 

That normally does it. Note that you must not certify the copies. The bank will do that as they don't trust police certification.

I don't see why 25 people can't have the same address. It makes sense to me, especially as its a farm.

Why did your rates and taxes bill not work? If its a property in your own name I don't see why they twould refuse it. Of course you would have to indicate that that was your residence, but if they want to make our lives complicated just play the "game".

This FICA stuff really is a waste of time.

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## Slippy

How did you RICA?

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## Justloadit

Must have got a pre-RICAed SIM I suppose  :Smile:

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## Clintonb

Thanks for the replies, i'll follow up with the fica help desk and the banks.  

@JWalker - I'm trying to follow up on that but i don't see why not.  If other people proved residence without doing anything then they probably just had someone just take the details to the police and told people to just sign and then forwarded to the banks.  What might also be useful is that we have been here two years and we've had stock theft to armed robbery.  All of these resulted in a case being opened and since i opened the case, my id number is on the police file with the farm address and i could perhaps use the last break in about 2 weeks ago as proof that i actually live here.

@busfact - They say the address is not specific enough and that giving the farm address is like just giving your suburb in town.  The reason they wouldn't take my rates and taxes was because the address was in gauteng.  They asked for occupation and since i worked here, it is not believable that i commute between gauteng and kwazulu and therefore i live here and that's not my residential address.  I said exactly the same thing when they asked the land owner to come in and a certified copy was not acceptable with a cohab agreement without them in person.  What is more funny is that they are willing to take my word verbally that i work here and assume that i live here but they won't take my word when i tell them that i actually do live here :Big Grin:  .  How stupid is that?

@skippy/justload it - I do have a rica'd sim card.  I registered one for my cellphone and one for my broadband dongle.  Rica however is a joke because it can be done anywhere a sim card is sold.  The community is very small and we all know the crap we have to put up with the regulations and being in the same boat they just bent the rules a bit.  I didn't even present an id book when registering.  I gave my id number verbally and they put their business address as an address, problem solved.  The reason we have to do these things is because if we didn't then nobody out here would have a working cellphone.  The banks unfortunately aren't willing to do this.

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## BusFact

> All of these resulted in a case being opened and since i opened the case, my id number is on the police file with the farm address and i could perhaps use the last break in about 2 weeks ago as proof that i actually live here.


I doubt it. Banks don't accept police verified copies so its unlikely they will accept this.




> They say the address is not specific enough and that giving the farm address is like just giving your suburb in town.


They really are full of it. How can 25 people on one farm be compared to a suburb with a few thousand people and multiple buidings. Ridiculous.




> The reason they wouldn't take my rates and taxes was because the address was in gauteng.  They asked for occupation and since i worked here, it is not believable that i commute between gauteng and kwazulu and therefore i live here and that's not my residential address.


You have really found one stubborn bank clerk. They don't usually care about this nonsense. They just do it because government threatens them. That commute is not unheard of. Perhaps you're on a temp contract? Geesh, you'd think they'd just take the paper work and be done with it. At this stage I would insist that they give you a feasible way of FICAring yourself. Jump up and down a bit.




> I said exactly the same thing when they asked the land owner to come in and a certified copy was not acceptable with a cohab agreement without them in person.


Yes, most won't accept the certified copy. They want the original from which they will certify themselves. They do not need the actual person though. I have done it this way with Standard, Nedbank, FNB and ABSA. Start throwing toys.

Usually I have sympathy for the banks with regard to FICA. Its as much a pain for them as for us. But when they dish out the cr@p you're getting, then they just become part of the problem. Idiots.

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## Dave A

I recently hired a "refugee" from Zambia. He has his SA home affairs refugee papers and that's about it.

Now I will only pay salaries into bank accounts, so he had to open one, and of course the FICA roadblock came up. What FNB wanted was a very specifically worded letter from the employer... wait, let me find it:




> Re: Confirmation of employment: NH.
> 
> As per the payroll records of the company, I hereby confirm that Mr. NH, Department: Home Affairs file number DBNZMB0000xxxxx, is an employee of this company and according to our payroll records resides at xxxxx and earns a monthly salary of Rxxx.00 per month.
> 
> Yours faithfully


On a company letterhead and with a company stamp on it and apparently this is deemed acceptable in some sort of arrangement somewhere, somehow.

And they're pretty pedantic about the wording. When he told me he needed a confirmation of employment letter I issued our standard one - which they would not accept.

I don't know whether this is an FNB thing, just for the specific branch or what, but it did the trick. He got his bank account.

I can tell you he was absolutely chuffed. He's been in the country for 8 years already and it's his first bank account.
Damn fine employee too, BTW.

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## mbsmit

Dave A - Yes, they normally just want to hold on to there employment. Nice thing you did for the guy! Thumbs up.

An affidavit should do a proof of address? Otherwise just open a small account and get a statement or perhaps an affidavit should do.

Not sure, perhaps someone else can verify, the Mzansi Account does not require proof of address? But if there is no alternative, Standard Bank has a nice pre-paid card you could try.

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