CandiceM Posted March 21, 2013 Report Share Posted March 21, 2013 Hi All,Havent been here in a long while now:-)After 5.5 quite tumultous years in Australia we are finally becoming citizens on the 1st May! With much excitement we are planning our first trip back to SA in 4.5 years, to introduce our new baby daughter to the family. Now as I understand if you do not apply for dual citizenship you automatically lose your SA citizenship (but retain PR status) on accepting citizenship of another country. This is all fine and dandy since we never planned on retaining SA citizenship, added to that our daughter only has Aus citizenship since she was born here and I haven't (nor do I plan to) registered her in South Africa. BUT here comes the spanner in the works. The automatic renuciation of a sa citizenship only applies to those over 18. So if your younger then 18 child obtains Aus citizenship they aquire dual nationality if or until you apply for a renunciation for them... In true South African fashion, this takes nine months!!According to the high commision website they wil issue a letter saying they have received the documentation which will allow you to travel to SA on an Aus passport. According to my email correspondance with them, it takes 10 days but they will no longer be issueing said letterHe could send in the application for renunciation however the letterwill take approximately 10 working days to be issued. The Mission willnot be issuing such letters in the future, we will have to wait for therenunciation to be acknowledged by the Department of Home Affairs. Now our nine year old son's SA passport has expired. What do we do? I am really loathe for three of us to travel on Aus passports and for him to travel on an SA one. Call me paranoid...because I am! But if the sh!t hits the fan I want to be able to get out of SA back to Aus. If i get a SA passport for him, there is no way I will get it before we fly...which incidently is on the 24th May... yes I love to live on the edge and give myself absolutely NO leeway with time, if something happens:-/ And as another complication, the way I read to high commission website in order to approve a temporary passport I have to produce a doctors certificate stating someone is dying or dead to get an 'emergency' passport... even though this is under the temporary passport heading!PLease help... tell me I am WAY overthinking this!!Candice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HadEnoughofJuju Posted March 21, 2013 Report Share Posted March 21, 2013 Hey Candice, if I was you I would just get Australian passports for the whole family. As you say you are all becoming Australian citizens on 1 May so plan your trip after that if you can. You will get your Aussie passports far quicker than you will the SA ones. I am not sure if you are going to need a visa to travel here on your Aussie passports but if you do they will be a lot easier to get at the High Commission in Australia than getting a South African passport. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HadEnoughofJuju Posted March 21, 2013 Report Share Posted March 21, 2013 P.S. Just read that you re flying on 24 May. You should most definitely (from what I have read on the forum) have all your Aussie passports before then. Here is a link to the SA High Commission stating that you will not need visas to enter South Africa for a holiday of not more than 90 days.http://www.sahc.org.au/visas.htmIMHO, Just get the Aussie passports for the whole family and travel on those, much let pain and paperwork. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndreaL Posted March 21, 2013 Report Share Posted March 21, 2013 Aren't you cutting it fine for you all to get Australian passports between 1st and 24th May? That sounds a bit like the way I do things. In any event, there is no way my child would be travelling on a different passport to me, just in case, remember that if the doo doo hits the fan, the Australian embassy has your back but what about Mr 9 travelling on a South African passport, even though he is a citizen.I hope I am not missing something obvious or vital in your post, but I'd suggest all going on Australian passports, maybe there is a chance that when you enter RSA they might ask why you are not travelling on RSA passports, but surely if you tell them you are Australian citizens and providing you don't provide them ID numbers, how can they check.? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CandiceM Posted March 21, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 21, 2013 Sorry, should have been a bit clearer. We are all meant to be flying in Aus passports. If you pay an extra $100 there is a 2 day turnaround, so we should have them in plenty of time for our flight. Come 1st May neither my husband and I will be sputh african citizens, so longer able to use a SA passport ... But my son still will be. This is the problem that by law a South African citizen needs to enter and depart South Africa in a South African passport. He will definitely have an Australian passport and now a temporary South African passport.I don't know how they would know if he is or is not a South African citizen as he will be the only one travelling into SA on a SA passport.It's too late now tickets are booked... So now I suppose I can just hope that the SA Hugh commission has not removed the text about this letter on their website, as I got another email today saying they will still do the letter allowing Citizens who have lodged renunciation paperwork to fly into SA in a foreign passport ... Until they update their website... Hoping they are on Africa time! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enrica Posted March 21, 2013 Report Share Posted March 21, 2013 I would not be worrying about that , I travel back to SA every year, and take my boys with. I and the boys have always entered and departed on our Australian passpots. I have only ever be asked once , and my answer to them was its take 4 months to get a South African passport, take it up with canberra.!!!I have not renewd my SA passports or the kids . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brad76 Posted March 21, 2013 Report Share Posted March 21, 2013 Definitely travel on the Aus passports! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toitjie Posted March 21, 2013 Report Share Posted March 21, 2013 Hey Candice..no advice on the passport issue, but I just want to say huge congrats on your baby girl!! The last time I saw you guys your son was still small, I cant imagine he is nine already! I hope you guys are doing well, and are happy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joeemm Posted March 25, 2013 Report Share Posted March 25, 2013 Sorry to prolong this discussion, but I'm a bit confused, I thought if I still had dual citizenship then I had to leave Aus on Australian and enter SA on South Africa, then leave SA on South African and Enter Aus on Australian. You have me a little concerned that my son will be in his own Aus passport if we ever go for a hioliday/Anyone clear up this one please Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R0dney Posted July 10, 2013 Report Share Posted July 10, 2013 Hi Could anyone share there SA passport experiences with us . We are submitting applications this week and Hope to have them by the end of November. Canberra says anything from three to six months . Has anyone done 3 months ? Also we are struggling to get the local police to take fingerprints of us and to release them to us . They say this is not normal . To add insult to injury finger prints cost $ 40 pp if you ask for them . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OubaasDik Posted July 10, 2013 Report Share Posted July 10, 2013 Hi Could anyone share there SA passport experiences with us . We are submitting applications this week and Hope to have them by the end of November. Canberra says anything from three to six months . Has anyone done 3 months ? Also we are struggling to get the local police to take fingerprints of us and to release them to us . They say this is not normal . To add insult to injury finger prints cost $ 40 pp if you ask for them .Oh yep, sorry - it took me about 5 months to get an RSA passport, but that was because I wasn't born in RSA, and I was put on the same pile as all the sold citizenships from Home Affairs, and other foreign born Saffas.If you were born in SA, then they're actually quite quick via the SAHC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maudei Posted July 14, 2013 Report Share Posted July 14, 2013 Hi Could anyone share there SA passport experiences with us . We are submitting applications this week and Hope to have them by the end of November. Canberra says anything from three to six months . Has anyone done 3 months ? Also we are struggling to get the local police to take fingerprints of us and to release them to us . They say this is not normal . To add insult to injury finger prints cost $ 40 pp if you ask for them .Hi R0dney, my son's renewal application for his passport was received in the mail in Canberra in early December 2011. The renewed passport was returned back to him in the post by early February, just over 2 months later. We were expecting to probably wait the full 6 months, so it was a pleasant surprise. Most people I know in Oz who have done the same said they received theirs back after 3 months.My son lives in Brisbane and took his new passport in to have his visa updated and they attached a new visa sticker for him into his new passport, took a few minutes and all done.As far as the finger print form is concerned, we had to request the form the embassy in Canberra via mail. Had no problems and my son took it to his local police station in Brisbane who knew exactly what it was about.I have to say I expected all sorts of problems along the way and yet there was not a single hitch.I hope you have managed by now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeeInOz Posted August 1, 2013 Report Share Posted August 1, 2013 Hi Could anyone share there SA passport experiences with us . We are submitting applications this week and Hope to have them by the end of November. Canberra says anything from three to six months . Has anyone done 3 months ? Also we are struggling to get the local police to take fingerprints of us and to release them to us . They say this is not normal . To add insult to injury finger prints cost $ 40 pp if you ask for them .Despite the times quoted on the High commission webpage they are a lot faster than they say. In all the dealings we had they were very efficient, even when my wife made an error on a form they sent I back and emailed and then confirmed it was back with them and processed it pretty quickly.As to finger prints they charge in QLD if you do not have the form from High Commission. We happened to go and there were several South Africans some with and some without forms. I asked why we did not pay and others did, the form (which you are supposed to get from the high commission first) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ozza101 Posted January 14, 2015 Report Share Posted January 14, 2015 Has any body (with Dual Citizenship) used their foreign passports to enter SA lately? (between end 2014 and now) Any issues? Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
21yearsoutofrsa Posted January 14, 2015 Report Share Posted January 14, 2015 South African citizenship legislation requires SA citizens to enter and exit South Africa using their RSA passports Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joeemm Posted January 17, 2015 Report Share Posted January 17, 2015 Just got back, we used our Aussie ones to leave Australia, then our SA ones to enter and leave South Africa and finally our Aussie ones to re-enter Australia. All went well, our Aussie born son (7) only has one passport, he just went with us (of course) no problems at all :-)Have a safe trip. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OubaasDik Posted January 17, 2015 Report Share Posted January 17, 2015 Has any body (with Dual Citizenship) used their foreign passports to enter SA lately? (between end 2014 and now) Any issues? Thanks.Yup - got back on the 12/01/2015 - left Aus on the Aussie passport - entered RSA on the SA one - left RSA on the SA one and entered Aus on the Aus one - no hangups, no problems nothing really. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elleneo Posted August 4, 2015 Report Share Posted August 4, 2015 (edited) Oubaas that's not what the question was, they asking if you entered South Africa on your Aussie passport while having dual citizenship... Edited August 4, 2015 by elleneo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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