What all South Africans need to know about the South African Citizenship Act

Earlier this year, the Democratic Alliance (DA) challenged Section 6 (1)(a) of the South African Citizenship Act of 1985. The DA said that the South African (SA) Citizenship Act was unconstitutional. The DA also noted that South Africans are unfairly stripped of their citizenship when they acquire citizenship in another country.

Unfortunately, the judge in the case, Judge Jody Kollapen, ruled that the SA Citizenship Act did not deprive South Africans of their citizenship. He further ruled that the act made it possible for South Africans to retain their citizenship when acquiring new citizenship.

The DA filed an appeal on the decision, but Judge Kollapen dismissed the appeal earlier in September 2021.

The above is unfortunate news for many South Africans who unwittingly lost their South African (SA) citizenship when they applied for another country’s citizenship. Many South Africans hoped that the judge would rule in their favour and that their SA citizenship would have been automatically reinstated.

Protecting your South African citizenship

It is thus essential for South Africans who would like to apply for British or any other second or third nationality to note the SA Citizenship Act provisions.

If you are about to apply for a second or third nationality, you have to apply for the retention of your South African citizenship before you acquire such citizenship. By following this procedure, you will safeguard your SA citizenship while being able to hold multiple citizenships. This depends, of course, on the rules of the other countries.

If you fail to formally apply for permission from the South African authorities to keep your citizenship before acquiring any other citizenship through naturalisation, you will automatically lose your SA citizenship.

Reinstating your SA citizenship

It is possible to reinstate your South African citizenship if you lost it, provided you were a born South African national. However, it is quite an administrative hassle to do this. It involves you having to live in South Africa for an extended time. One could apply for a returning resident, but it is a lot of hassle and money. It is also a lot more effort than taking a short time to protect it from the onset.

Why protect your SA citizenship?

Breytenbachs Immigration Consultants advise our South African clients to protect their South African citizenship before applying for British citizenship. Clients often feel that they don’t need to do this as they believe they are emigrating permanently.

However, there are implications to this decision that could impact individuals and their families in the future. We thus advise clients to follow the procedure to prevent future administrative hassles.

Feel free to speak to a Breytenbachs consultant. The consultant can advise on the exact procedure to retain your SA citizenship under the SA Citizenship Act. When it comes to the retention of your SA citizenship, prevention is better than cure.

For more information, please get in touch with Breytenbachs.

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