The UI-2.1 is the paper application for unemployment benefits under section 17(1) of the Unemployment Insurance Act. It also covers reduced work time, where you are still employed but working fewer hours. If you claim online, UIF Online collects the same kind of information on screen, and our UIF Online claim guide covers that route. The paper form is for claims lodged in person at a labour centre, and foreign nationals must use that in-person route for unemployment or reduced-hours claims. Get the latest copy from the official UI-2.1 PDF on labour.gov.za, and write in black ink and capital letters.
Section by section through the UI-2.1
Who you are
The top block asks for your 13-digit bar-coded ID or passport number, date of birth (dd/mm/yy), gender, first names and surname. Your postal and residential addresses each have a postal code and phone number field, followed by email and fax. Copy your names exactly as they appear on your ID, because the UIF matches them against your employer’s declarations. Give a cellphone number you will keep, since that is how the UIF and the labour centre reach you.
Occupation, schooling and earlier claims
Write the job you last did, then tick one education level: below Grade 8, Grade 8–9, Grade 10–11, Grade 12, above Grade 12 or special school certificate. The form has no banking section. It sends you to the UI-2.8 instead, which we cover in how to complete the UI-2.8 banking form. Under “Details of previous application”, give the name and ID or passport number you used for any earlier UIF claim. Leave it blank only if you have never claimed.
The yes/no questions
- Further requirements (unemployment): are you registered as a work-seeker at a labour centre, and are you capable of and available for work? If you answer no to the second question, explain why in the space given.
- Reduced work time (section 12(1B)): are you currently employed, are or were you on reduced work time, and has your employer completed a UI-2.7? Answer these questions only if you are claiming for reduced hours.
The declaration and the office box
Read the “Important” section before you sign it. You declare that you are unemployed or working reduced hours, and you promise to tell the claims officer as soon as you are re-employed or back on full pay. The form states that failing to do so is fraud, and that you must refund any overpayment. Sign and date it. The bottom strip, with the official’s signature, the approval date, the refusal reason and the office stamp, belongs to the labour centre, so leave it empty.
Slips that delay a UI-2.1
- Answering “no” to the work-seeker question and leaving it there. Register as a work-seeker at the labour centre first, then complete the form.
- Writing a resignation as the reason you are out of work. Resignation does not qualify for unemployment benefits unless the CCMA has found constructive dismissal.
- Ticking the reduced-work-time questions when you have actually lost your job, or the reverse.
- A surname or ID number that differs from the one your employer used on its UI-19.
Lodging the completed form
Take the signed UI-2.1 to a labour centre with your ID, the stamped UI-2.8, and the UI-19, salary schedule and service letter from your employer. For reduced work time, add the employer’s UI-2.7. You must apply within 12 months of losing your job. After that, the Commissioner accepts a late claim only if you show good cause. Keep a copy of everything you hand over, and ask for proof that the centre received it. If you would rather apply from your phone or computer, the steps are in our guide to applying for UIF.