Immigrating to the UK

Hatefulsandwich said:
Okay, my application for Citizenship based on Section 4L of the British Nationality Act was successful, which is great.

Now I need to navigate the application for Retention of my South African Citizenship. I'm having a really hard time finding the specifics of what is required for this. Anyone have any experience with this?
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AFAIK you only need to apply for retention if you are naturalised. Citizenship in this case is your birthright.
 
The Voice said:
IIRC it only applies if you got your citizenship before your 18th birthday.
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But if they weren't able to because of the historical unfairness of the laws at the time?

Considering the time has passed for them to apply for retention, that's the argument I would make in the [unlikely] event anything ever happened.
 
Priapus said:
How does the SA government find out if you have citizenship elsewhere?

If you don’t tell them… then?
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You have to use your SA passport when entering and leaving SA (by law), and I guess when it comes time to renew maybe?
 
bwana said:
But if they weren't able to because of the historical unfairness of the laws at the time?

Considering the time has passed for them to apply for retention, that's the argument I would make in the [unlikely] event anything ever happened.
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Who knows? It’s the SA government, anything is possible.
 
Priapus said:
Yes. Was just about to say that the constitutional court ruled in July of last year that you cannot loose citizenship because you got another from a differ country.
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Indeed, it’s a step in the right direction, but it still needs to be signed into law.
 
The Voice said:
You have to use your SA passport when entering and leaving SA (by law), and I guess when it comes time to renew maybe?
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I still don’t see how they’d know?

As far as I know DHA don’t ask countries around the world if person X who is renewing the passport has citizenship with that country.
 
Priapus said:
Yes. Was just about to say that the constitutional court ruled in July of last year that you cannot loose citizenship because you got another from a differ country.
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The Supreme Court of Appeal in June of 2023. The judgement still needs to be confirmed by the Constitutional Court.

The Voice said:
Indeed, it’s a step in the right direction, but it still needs to be signed into law.
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It needs to be confirmed at which time the existing law becomes invalidated.

Priapus said:
I still don’t see how they’d know?
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My place of birth is listed in both of my passports.
 
Question then is how long is it going to take to have your unconstitutionally stripped citizenship reinstated? Because there are going to be a LOT of people.
 
Priapus said:
I still don’t see how they’d know?

As far as I know DHA don’t ask countries around the world if person X who is renewing the passport has citizenship with that country.
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I presume they might realise when you apply to renew an SA passport after being in the foreign country for longer than an SA citizen can be and then demand proof.
 
Dave said:
I presume they might realise when you apply to renew an SA passport after being in the foreign country for longer than an SA citizen can be and then demand proof.
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Been trying to find more info online, but nothing concrete. Just a few Quora posts and whatnot saying that some countries share their DBs so when your passport is scanned it will indicate that you have a second passport under your name.
 
Priapus said:
I still don’t see how they’d know?

As far as I know DHA don’t ask countries around the world if person X who is renewing the passport has citizenship with that country.
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When you renew your SA passport they specifically ask these questions.
 
The contract pack for my property purchase has finally arrived at my solicitors after almost 4 weeks of waiting. They are now able to kick off various search processes which can take several weeks.
I've also had a full structural survey done of the property, for peace of mind.
This whole process is incredibly slow versus the SA equivalent.

I also don't have a view of the seller's chain yet. They've gone out and made some, seemingly, unsuccessful offers. Hopefully they get a move on.
 
Priapus said:
Why not?
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I thought you meant you were saying you wouldn’t answer the question.

Priapus said:
If you just say you don’t have citizenship elsewhere. Then how do they know you do?
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The determination form will see you in the shìt when they do find out, especially when they get suspicious that you’ve been living in the UK without ILR or a work visa in the SA passport for 5-10 years.
 
The Voice said:
Ok, so don’t mean throw a spanner in the works, but I think you need to have applied for the retention BEFORE you applied for your UK citizenship, because part of it is a letter from the UK government stating that you do not hold nor have you applied for British citizenship yet.
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Immigration lawyers did not say this, just that it needs to be applied for before new citizenship is accepted.
 
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