I recently wrote an article in Worldwide Spotlight on the situation surrounding South African citizens who had left the country some years back, acquired citizenship of another country – without first applying to retain their South African citizenship status – and then, to their surprise, found out that they had automatically lost their South African citizenship.

The reality is that many South Africans return to this country after they have acquired citizenship of another country, sometimes in a manner that have deprived them of their South African citizenship status.

What to do administratively upon return becomes a vexing question.

This could be best answered by first determining from which country citizenship was acquired and when. If that country is a non-visa-exempted country in respect of South Africa, the person would technically require a visa to return to South Africa.  However, if s/he is returning from a visa-exempted country, s/he would be able to enter South Africa on a visitor’s visa without actually having to apply for one.

This does not resolve any administrative problems which may then arise, however.

South African citizens’ details are captured on the Movement Control System of the Department of Home Affairs and linked to the Home Affairs National Identification System, where the full names and identity numbers would in all probability indicate a person to be a South African citizen.

If they were hypothetically still South African citizens, they would be required to enter and leave South Africa on their South African passport. Obviously, having unknowingly lost their status as a South African citizen, they would not necessarily be able to do so without hassle, as they would not have been able to obtain new South African passports or extend their current passports.

A passport application form that is submitted to an Embassy or High Commission abroad requires the applicant to answer whether or not the person has acquired citizenship status of another country, and if so, when. If they have done so without having first applied for retention of their South African citizenship status, they would be informed unceremoniously that they have lost their South African citizenship status.

The only solution to the above is to apply for a determination of their status, which is a formal application process to have their status determined. If they have indeed lost their South African citizenship status but were born in South Africa, they would retain the right to permanent residence. This would allow the person to then enter with his/her foreign passport without any difficulty, provided s/he carry the determination of status with him/her.

This is a very complex area of law. If you have any questions, wish to clarify your status or even want to apply for a determination of your status, we suggest that you forward your enquire to enquiries@immigration.org.za or complete the immigration questionnaire on www.immigration.org.za.