Dual Citizenship Question.

[RossCo91]

I am looking for help or to be pointed into the right direction for help.

I am a British Citizen and South African Resident. I have lived in South Africa since I was 18 months old and I am now 25.

When we moved to the country to obtain SA Citizenship we were told we would need to give up British Citizenship, which we opted not to do.

However all I read online is how to get Dual Citizenship if you are South African applying outwards.
I've been told its not possible. But honestly don't know who to ask, and before wasting my time at home affairs I thought I'd see if anyone here could help?

 

[poorestguy]

I am looking for help or to be pointed into the right direction for help.

I am a British Citizen and South African Resident. I have lived in South Africa since I was 18 months old and I am now 25.

When we moved to the country to obtain SA Citizenship we were told we would need to give up British Citizenship, which we opted not to do.

However all I read online is how to get Dual Citizenship if you are South African applying outwards.
I've been told its not possible. But honestly don't know who to ask, and before wasting my time at home affairs I thought I'd see if anyone here could help?

You can definitely get dual citizens hip for SA and UK as they both allow dual citizenship.For the SA home affairs you would need a letter from the British high commission explaining that they allow for their citizens to obtain dual citizenship

 

[MagicDude4Eva]

I am looking for help or to be pointed into the right direction for help.

I am a British Citizen and South African Resident. I have lived in South Africa since I was 18 months old and I am now 25.

When we moved to the country to obtain SA Citizenship we were told we would need to give up British Citizenship, which we opted not to do.

However all I read online is how to get Dual Citizenship if you are South African applying outwards.
I've been told its not possible. But honestly don't know who to ask, and before wasting my time at home affairs I thought I'd see if anyone here could help?

I would rather ask the British embassy. So you want to keep your British Citizenship and then apply for SA Citizenship? As far as I understand, this is only possibly if you were born in SA and one of your parents holds British Citizenship (there might even be variations/restrictions on the parents on this). I don't think it is possible for dual-citizenship if it is the other way around (i.e. non SA birth-certificate) and I guess you would have to give up British Citizenship to get SA Citizenship.

 

[Roo!]

I would rather ask the British embassy. So you want to keep your British Citizenship and then apply for SA Citizenship? As far as I understand, this is only possibly if you were born in SA and one of your parents holds British Citizenship (there might even be variations/restrictions on the parents on this). I don't think it is possible for dual-citizenship if it is the other way around (i.e. non SA birth-certificate) and I guess you would have to give up British Citizenship to get SA Citizenship.

Wrong, many UK born Saffers have dual citizenship, me included.

 

[bwana]

You're fine - you only need to get a letter from SA if you're adopting a foreign citizenship. The English couldn't give a toss.

 

[MagicDude4Eva]

Wrong, many UK born Saffers have dual citizenship, me included.

Agree - I because of it's history, Britain is probably not as easy as they classify citizenship on multiple levels. I just heard that some people lost their SA citizenship because of the SA Nationality Act - i.e. brits born in SA, then applying for a british passport (the brits will issue it) but then when it comes to the renewal of the SA passport, DHA will go "You forgot to tell us about your british citizenship and failed to inform us and you are not a SA citizen anymore" - happened to 2 different people a good 7-8 years ago and they had a year-long fight with DHA - perhaps just some administrative blunder.

 

[ScottulusMaximus]

I would rather ask the British embassy. So you want to keep your British Citizenship and then apply for SA Citizenship? As far as I understand, this is only possibly if you were born in SA and one of your parents holds British Citizenship (there might even be variations/restrictions on the parents on this). I don't think it is possible for dual-citizenship if it is the other way around (i.e. non SA birth-certificate) and I guess you would have to give up British Citizenship to get SA Citizenship.

Huh?

I hold British and SA citizenship and wasn't born in either of the countries. Both countries allow dual citizenship no problem.

Home Affairs SA do have some nonsense bureaucratic procedure you have to go through before applying for foreign citizenship. UK doesn't give a toss what other citizenship you hold.

 

[MagicDude4Eva]

Huh?

I hold British and SA citizenship and wasn't born in either of the countries. Both countries allow dual citizenship no problem.

Home Affairs SA do have some nonsense bureaucratic procedure you have to go through before applying for foreign citizenship. UK doesn't give a toss what other citizenship you hold.

I think the big issue comes in if Home Affairs decides on something for that particular day. Friends of ours had valid SA passports and UK passports until they needed to renew their SA passports and where told that they are not SA citizens anymore. Turned out that some law was passed in 2006 which required citizens to inform SA if they require other citizenship and failure to notify will result in SA citizenship being revoked - this seems to be one of those things which has been inconsistently applied.

Slightly related (I am an Austrian citizen / SA perm and my kid is SA citizen by birth with Austrian dual-citizenship). When we wanted to renew our passports in November, I had to prove to the Austrians that I was not a SA citizen (had to get a DIRCO letter of determination of citizenship). The kid had endless issues with SA (they would not accept their own vault copy of a birth-certificate) and the Austrians (they were told that he had renounced the Austrian citizenship by DHA). This took 3 months to sort out and I think was mostly due to DHA.

 

[gregmcc]

Turned out that some law was passed in 2006 which required citizens to inform SA if they require other citizenship and failure to notify will result in SA citizenship being revoked - this seems to be one of those things which has been inconsistently applied.

Been reading up on this as next year I'll finally be applying my UK passport.

http://www.sapeople.com/2014/07/08/south-african-dual-citizenship-and-retaining-sa-nationality-782/

South Africans who are about to apply for British citizenship should take note that they have to apply for the Retention of South African citizenship before they acquire British citizenship, in order to safeguard their South African citizenship. This way their SA citizenship is protected and they are able to hold dual citizenship – of both South Africa and the United Kingdom.

If you fail to formally apply for dual citizenship permission before acquiring British citizenship through naturalisation, you will automatically lose your South African citizenship.

It is however possible to re-instate one’s South African citizenship once it has been lost, but this may cause quite an administrative hassle, and involves you having to live in South Africa for an extended period of time

 

[ISP cash cow]

you should be fine.

One of the questions when applying for a South African passport is if you have citizenship of any country. you just mark yes and of the United Kingdom. Both countries allow dual citizenship, so I doubt there will be any issues.

 

[RossCo91]

After doing much digging, a very lady helped me over the phone about this.

And I just thought I'd update the thread to let everyone know,

It is possible, its a costly and long 18-24 month process.

 

[KarooKlonkie]

After doing much digging, a very lady helped me over the phone about this.

And I just thought I'd update the thread to let everyone know,

It is possible, its a costly and long 18-24 month process.

Nicely done! I imagine you're relieved and going to consider doing it? Why do you feel it is important/necessary to get your SA citizenship if you don't mind me asking?

I've got dual nationality. Born in SA and I assume I got my British nationality as a child through my father who is English. Planning to go over to the UK in April for work, which reminds me that I need to apply for my new British passport as my current one expired. Here's something a few people may not know... as a dual citizen you can't apply for a new British passport without having and bringing along an up-to-date South African passport.

 

[Jehosefat]

Nicely done! I imagine you're relieved and going to consider doing it? Why do you feel it is important/necessary to get your SA citizenship if you don't mind me asking?

I've got dual nationality. Born in SA and I assume I got my British nationality as a child through my father who is English. Planning to go over to the UK in April for work, which reminds me that I need to apply for my new British passport as my current one expired. Here's something a few people may not know... as a dual citizen you can't apply for a new British passport without having and bringing along an up-to-date South African passport.

"Bring along"? When I applied for my new British passport I had to do the whole thing online and courier a colour photocopy of every page of my South African passport along with my old British passport to the UK.

 

[KarooKlonkie]

"Bring along"? When I applied for my new British passport I had to do the whole thing online and courier a colour photocopy of every page of my South African passport along with my old British passport to the UK.

What?! Wow that sounds like considerably more effort than how it was explained to me at the British Consulate in Cape Town last year. How long ago did you do this? Maybe they have since stream-lined the process somehow?

 

[MagicDude4Eva]

"Bring along"? When I applied for my new British passport I had to do the whole thing online and courier a colour photocopy of every page of my South African passport along with my old British passport to the UK.

I hope the UK is less painful than the rest of the EU. Renewing Austrian passports (and most EU countries) do not accept home-affairs documents unless certified via DIRCO:
- For my kid they were not happy with the now 18 year old full birth certificate and requested a new birth-certificate which had to get an Apostille from DIRCO (certified copies or certified originals did not count)
- As an EU citizen I had to get a DHA letter of determination proving that I have not become a SA citizen (WTF?) - also Apostille from DIRCO

FWIW: A trip to DIRCO was so worth it - a super impressive and organised government department - getting the Apostille took 15 minutes (while you wait), free undercover parking and super-friendly/efficient staff - felt like I visited a different country.

 

[Jehosefat]

I did this last year around July/August.

Wasn't particularly painful. The website is pretty simple to use and gives you a complete list of all the documentation that you have to courier across (didn't need anything from home affairs apart from my SA passport which I already had). Only issue that I had was that they were not thrilled about shipping the new passport to my work address and I had to send a letter from my company confirming that I worked there.

All in all about 3 weeks and R2k

 

[RossCo_]

Nicely done! I imagine you're relieved and going to consider doing it? Why do you feel it is important/necessary to get your SA citizenship if you don't mind me asking?

I've got dual nationality. Born in SA and I assume I got my British nationality as a child through my father who is English. Planning to go over to the UK in April for work, which reminds me that I need to apply for my new British passport as my current one expired. Here's something a few people may not know... as a dual citizen you can't apply for a new British passport without having and bringing along an up-to-date South African passport.

Don't mind you asking at all,
I don't believe many people that aren't citizens really do go for it.

My reasoning is that I am a competitive fresh water fisherman and pretty close to my SA colours,
But you are not able to obtain SA colours being just a resident, you need to be a citizen.

 

[RossCo_]

I did this last year around July/August.

Wasn't particularly painful. The website is pretty simple to use and gives you a complete list of all the documentation that you have to courier across (didn't need anything from home affairs apart from my SA passport which I already had). Only issue that I had was that they were not thrilled about shipping the new passport to my work address and I had to send a letter from my company confirming that I worked there.

All in all about 3 weeks and R2k

You had me excited I thought you were talking about SA Citizenship.

 

[silverfoxrox]

@RossCo_ do you mind sharing your contact (the one that told you about the process)?

I also have PR here in SA and want to apply for citizenship (i'm a citizen of the U.S.). I haven't been able to find any clear information online. I've only been a permanent resident for 3 years so i'm not sure if I need to wait longer before I can apply, or what the deal is.

 

[bwana]

@RossCo_ do you mind sharing your contact (the one that told you about the process)?

I also have PR here in SA and want to apply for citizenship (i'm a citizen of the U.S.). I haven't been able to find any clear information online. I've only been a permanent resident for 3 years so i'm not sure if I need to wait longer before I can apply, or what the deal is.

You need to have been a PR for 10 years before you can apply for naturalisation.

http://www.home-affairs.gov.za/index.php/civic-services/citizenship