Wow this dual citizenship thing is serious! Before you leave SA get your letter!

[Crossedover]

Everywhere we look at the moment all I see is Dual citizenship posts and warnings about it. Well we went to home affairs this am and now I I see what all the fuss is about. The gentleman who helped us was very informative and told us things have been beefed up and it's an absolute headache to overcome.

So as you may or may not have read you need to apply for a dual Citizenship letter and receive it before you take on the citizenship of another country.

We were told the only office in KZN to issue these letters was the Durban Umgeni road branch.

You have to take unabridged birth certificates, marriage certificates, an affidavit stating you are a SA citizen, intending to immigrate, and you wish to retain your SA citizenship. Pay your R 300pp and go and collect it in 10 days....

I must say I am glad doing it in a place I know how to get around... Ah then again after 4 years I should know my way around my new home town

Hope this post saves someone the headache of going thru the process of trying to regain citizenship... The requirements of this look ridiculous ... Not worth doing!!

[Donelle]

Hi Crossingover, thanks so much for the info, will definitely be useful for my hubby and me

[Splinky]

Thanks for the info- really helpful!

[Parks]

Hi Crossingover,

We are in Pmb, is it possible to apply for dual citizenship so far in advance? I was wondering if it would expire.

We are going on a 489 visa in November and can only apply for PR in 2 years time, then citizenship after that.

Do you think we could/should apply for dual citizenship before we leave.

Thanks for post

[Crossedover]

Hi PARKS,

Apparently yes you must get it even if it's far in advance. You need to get it before you go according to the helpful guy at homes affairs.

[chzaau]

There is no expiry date on the letter. So apply for it soon. Also make sure you keep the letter safe as that is all you have. I have scanned a copy of mine and keep it separate location. At least if the original burns I have the letter in a copy and it has a reference number.

[Donovan83]

So for those of us on PR, that emigrated previously... do we also need to fly to Durban Umgeni Road Branch or will these twats provide some other way of getting their stupid letter?

[Crossedover]

Don, I am sure you can apply at a local embacy over in Aus.... You just need to do it before you apply for your Aus citizenship. The guy at home affairs was not saying too much but from what I gathered one of the big consequences is the inability to vote. Which as an Aus citizen maybe be fair BUT I think it is catching South Africans here at home who have two passports and never applied for dual citizenship so now they are unable to vote. This has effected my mom, she has lived here all her life but by choosing a British passport without dual citizenship she can't vote. We are traveling to the US with friends in Sept, they have both SA and British passports and she went to speak to this same chap and he warned her that it is highly likely they will confiscate fer SA pasport and she will have to reapply to regain SA citizenship or forfeit it. That is no voting for her... Basically to prevent the unrealistic reinstatement of citizenship process it is worth getting this dual citizenship letter.

[Bronwyn&Co]

So for those of us on PR, that emigrated previously... do we also need to fly to Durban Umgeni Road Branch or will these twats provide some other way of getting their stupid letter?

It's easy Donovan, just download the letter from the SAHC Canberra website. You fill it in and if I remember correctly, provide a self addressed and stamped envelope and an old-fashioned money order that you easily buy at a Post Office. Post all to Canberra. Wait 4+ months. You get an official approval letter in the mail. Maybe you can even do your partner's at the same time, I don't think they expire.

http://www.sahc.org.au

Don, I am sure you can apply at a local embacy over in Aus.... You just need to do it before you apply for your Aus citizenship. The guy at home affairs was not saying too much but from what I gathered one of the big consequences is the inability to vote. Which as an Aus citizen maybe be fair BUT I think it is catching South Africans here at home who have two passports and never applied for dual citizenship so now they are unable to vote. This has effected my mom, she has lived here all her life but by choosing a British passport without dual citizenship she can't vote. We are traveling to the US with friends in Sept, they have both SA and British passports and she went to speak to this same chap and he warned her that it is highly likely they will confiscate fer SA pasport and she will have to reapply to regain SA citizenship or forfeit it. That is no voting for her... Basically to prevent the unrealistic reinstatement of citizenship process it is worth getting this dual citizenship letter.

But Crossingover how do they know if you have another passport? Not sure about that one...also someone mentioned that there is a difference if you got your second passport via descent or residency in another country.

Edited July 20, 2014 by Bronwyn&Co

[SAHort]

All I know is that I have had dual citizenship for years (UK, SA) and the UK told me I had to get a letter from SA which I never did. Never had any problems either so Im not going to bother. My policy is just to keep quite and not complicate things and its worked so far for me. Not advocating anyone else do it you know... haha

[Donovan83]

All I know is that I have had dual citizenship for years (UK, SA) and the UK told me I had to get a letter from SA which I never did. Never had any problems either so Im not going to bother. My policy is just to keep quite and not complicate things and its worked so far for me. Not advocating anyone else do it you know... haha

Same thing here. The response I got from the british embassy was that they'd never share your private information (such as whether you have a passport or not) with the SA government.

I love how the SA government acts as if SA is a desirable place for people to migrate to. They've put in this Australian-style skilled visa thing, they're making it harder to keep your citizenship... they should be incentivising skilled people to move there, not making it harder. So dumb.

I think the real reason they want to take away people's citizenship (and right to vote) is that they are probably quite aware that most people that have left are white and would never vote for the ANC... this is just another way they're making sure that those people cannot vote for another party.

[SurferMan]

When I get Aussie citizenship they can keep their precious docco. That was the whole point of leaving SA behind. I Agree, love the silly and poorly thought out new visa rules. What a joke, brought to you by the geniuses in Gov.

[chzaau]

In 2006 what the embassy would do is ask anybody who had been living in the UK for 5 years or greater to get a letter from the home office stating they did not have UK citizenship. That is how they where handling it at that time.

[Bigvan07]

Thanx Crossingover,

Will put this on our to-do list.

Silly question of which I probably know the answer already: My wife has dual citizenship as is SA/UK through descendance from her mother.

Will she have to drop her SA then and only myself and our daughter have SA/AUS citizenship with her UK/AUS then?

Edited July 21, 2014 by Bigvan07

[Bronwyn&Co]

Thanx Crossingover,

Will put this on our to-do list.

Silly question of which I probably know the answer already: My wife has dual citizenship as is SA/UK through descendance from her mother.

Will she have to drop her SA then and only myself and our daughter have SA/AUS citizenship with her UK/AUS then?

You don't have to drop anything. My kids have 3 passports each.

[Bigvan07]

Thanx Bronwyn,

So do we have to also go through the process of informing UK that she would like to retain her passport? Or is it just our silly country?

Where can my wife change her UK Passport into her married name?

@Crossingover Sorry, I didn't mean to hikack your post

[Splunken]

All new applications/renewals for UK passports have to be done in the UK at the moment. It's a bit of a nightmare as you apparently have to get a UK citizen to verify your passport photo (someone who is not a family member) and then the application get's shipped to the UK for processing. I forget who the agency is who handles it in SA, but a friend of mine just went though this. It's a bit of a headache apparently. They have pretty obfuscated instructions on the UK website, go read there.

Thanx Bronwyn,

So do we have to also go through the process of informing UK that she would like to retain her passport? Or is it just our silly country?

Where can my wife change her UK Passport into her married name?

@Crossingover Sorry, I didn't mean to hikack your post

Edited July 22, 2014 by Splunken

[Bronwyn&Co]

Hi Bigvan - I only requested permission from SA for my Australian citizenship application and for my son who is 21. For the two kids under 18 we didn't do anything because children apparently automatically retain their SA citizenship.

For the UK we did nothing.

[Ericadslv]

Can anybody tell me where we can go to in Johannesburg as the Benoni Home Affairs Office had no idea what I was talking about.

[Dave05]

Hi Bronwyn,

Where did you find out that children under 18 don't need the dual citizenship letter from Home Affairs?

Also, our plan is to get pregnant in SA, fly over on our visa activation trip (also our final move date) and have the baby in AUS, seeing as a baby born to PR parents gets citizenship automatically. See link below

http://www.immi.gov.au/Live/Pages/children-born-to-a-permanent-resident-of-australia.aspx

So how do I ensure that our kids get both SA and AUS passports? Has anyone else done this?

Regards,

Dave

[Bronwyn&Co]

Dave it's on the SAHC Canberra website:-

"The South African Citizenship Act provides for retention of South African citizenship PRIOR to the acquisition of a foreign citizenship. A condition of attaining dual citizenship for all South African citizens aged 18 years or older is that they must apply and be granted permission to retain their South African citizenship prior to the acquisition of a foreign citizenship...

South African citizens under the age of 18 years are exempt and do not require to apply for dual citizenship, as long as they acquire the foreign citizenship before their 18th birthday. They automatically retain their South African citizenship for life unless, once they have reached the age of 18 years and they then wish to acquire a further foreign citizenship, they will then have to apply for prior permission to retain their South African citizenship. Failing to do so, they will automatically lose their South African citizenship."

http://www.sahc.org.au/citizenship/Dual_Citizenship.htm

Just make sure your kids SA passports are done and when they qualify for Aus ones you apply