Dual SA Aus citizen traveling back to SA on Aus passport

[Riaan1977]

Hi All

 

I am a dual citizen of Aus SA. I have tickets to go back to Durban for 3 weeks in August 2019.

my passport expires end of May, last time I applied from Aus it only took 2 or 3 months so thought I had plenty of time to get a passport  before August. 

 

Apparently now now it takes 6-12 months?

My question is, has anyone travelled back to SA as Dual citizen and entered on their Aus passport?

 

According to the website it is an offense but I was told my someone at the high commission in Canberra (unofficially ofcourse) that I would still be allowed into SA but would be given a once off warning stamp in my passport?

 

anyone experienced this before?

 

thank tou

Riaan van Heerden

 

ps I have also applied for the new passport in the hope that it gets here in time!

[Sue123]

Hi Riaan , I do know someone that went in on their Aus passport after a family death. They did get in with a warning and on the way out they were warned again 

[new2forum]

Hi Riaan, . i ended up applying for my passport in SA as it was quicker, only difference is that i had time left on my SA passport. 

 

in your situation, you might have to use the services of the embassy...it takes 6+ months now. 

 

apparently there has been people on this forum who were denied entry using a foreign passport. I guess you could chance it, but it all comes down to who you have on the day. 

[Aleku]

Sorry if this is a naive question, but if you arrive in SA with AU passport, how do they know your Dual Citizen? I thought they process you as an Australian visiting South Africa?

[Sue123]

1 hour ago, Aleku said:

Sorry if this is a naive question, but if you arrive in SA with AU passport, how do they know your Dual Citizen? I thought they process you as an Australian visiting South Africa?

I believe they see where your place of birth is within the passport and that is a flag to look into a possible dual citizenship. 

[RYLC]

Yes, they look at your place of birth. A friend recently got a warning and she was born in Port Shepstone so pretty obvious to them when they say the place name.  I didn't receive a warning because my place of birth is generic enough to be anywhere, like for example Newcastle.

 

The whole thing is very confusing though because it is drummed into us that if we take out Oz citizenship without applying to retain RSA one then we automatically lose the RSA one. However, in practice, it seems that you have to "apply" to NOT retain your RSA citizenship. Surely it should be one or the other? Apply to retain only. I mean no other country requires you to prove that you DON'T have their citizenship. It's really odd and so open to corruption at the borders where you don't have paperwork to prove that you didn't retain RSA citizenship. A valid passport of whatever flavour you qualify for should be enough (like it is in practically every other country).

[Piet1234]

@RYLC If you are over 18 and gain citizenship of another country without asking SA to keep you SA citizenship, you lose your SA citizenship.  If you were born in SA you get a letter stating that you are a permanent resident and if you live in SA for a year you gain it all back.

 

As far as I know nothing gets sent to you and you probably could still use your passport (at own risk) but the minute you go to a SA embassy for anything and need to fill in that "Determination of Citizenship" form which they usually ask you to fill in, they will see your not eligible for SA citizenship and they will go through the process of renouncing it.

 

Once I got my British passport, I never knew that rule, and when I went to renew my sons SA passport and filled in the determination of citizenship form, they made me and my wife renounce SA citizenship and cancelled our passports etc. So when I went to SA for holiday they looked at My british passport, saw I was born in SA, and asked me where is my SA passport and I said to him "I had to give it up due to SA's stupid laws", he then proceeded to let me in  

 

We are in the process of renouncing our kids passports as we speak, since it is quite a pain for us to go in to SA on British and them to go in on SA (since they are under 18 they didnt lose SA passport when they got British one)

[ChrisH]

8 hours ago, RYLC said:

The whole thing is very confusing though because it is drummed into us that if we take out Oz citizenship without applying to retain RSA one then we automatically lose the RSA one. However, in practice, it seems that you have to "apply" to NOT retain your RSA citizenship.

 

Yeah its confusing because the law says one thing, but the useless government has pretty much made it the citizens responsibility to implement it.  

[DAC]

I know this is a few year later, but has anyone recently travelled back on their Australian Passport, and had any issues?

Further to place of birth, and knowing that technology is advancing do they use biometrics and fingerprints to assess your South African Status?

[MargotOrch]

I am also interested in this. Have letter from SA saying we can keep our SA citizenship, we have Aus citizenship as well. Will probably let the SA one go eventually. But when travelling back, what passport do we use?? 

[TeeTMI]

On 6/6/2023 at 1:41 AM, MargotOrch said:

I am also interested in this. Have letter from SA saying we can keep our SA citizenship, we have Aus citizenship as well. Will probably let the SA one go eventually. But when travelling back, what passport do we use?? 

 

If travelling to RSA you would use both passports.  Out and into AU the Australian passport - in and out of RSA the RSA passport.

[TeeTMI]

Just adding a link to a recent Supreme Court Ruling which may impact on the situation for some

 

A case at the Supreme Court http://www.saflii.org/za/cases/ZASCA/2023/97.html  relating to the provision that in South Africa that a person who does not first obtain the Minister of Home Affairs’ permission to retain their citizenship, would automatically lose their South African citizenship when they voluntarily and formally acquire citizenship or nationality of another country.

The Supreme Court of Appeal in South Africa declared that:

• s 6(1)(a) of the South African Citizenship Act 88 of 1995 is inconsistent with the Constitution and is invalid from its promulgation on 6 October 1995.
• that those citizens who lost their citizenship by operation of s 6(1)(a) of the South African Citizenship Act 88 of 1995 are deemed not to have lost their citizenship.

Edited June 15, 2023 by TeeTMI

[MargotOrch]

Thanks for this information. 

I have a letter saying we are permitted to keep our SA citizenship. Our SA passports are still valid but I'll not renew them again. 

My son is now 18 and my daughter is 16. 

 

[MargotOrch]

Also, if transitting through Kuala Lumpur and Mauritius, what passport to use then? 

[ChrisH]

On 6/18/2023 at 11:20 PM, MargotOrch said:

Also, if transitting through Kuala Lumpur and Mauritius, what passport to use then? 

 

You can use any passport.  Rules only apply for the countries you are citizens of.