Citizenship

There are three ways in which a person can be or become a South African citizen:

• By birth
• By descent
• By naturalisation

Citizenship by birth is a legal right for anyone who can prove the facts of birth and parentage. A person is a citizen by birth if it is born in South Africa with at least one parent who is a South African Citizen or due to his or her immigration was permanent resident at the time of that persons birth.

Citizenship by descent is a legal right for anyone who can prove the facts of birth and parentage. A South African citizen by descent is anyone who was born outside South Africa to a South African citizen or citizens.

Citizenship by naturalisation is not a legal right. It can be granted or refused by the Minister of Home Affairs. Anybody with a South African permanent residence permit qualifies to apply for South African citizenship through naturalisation after five years of being a permanent resident. Anybody married to a South African citizen qualifies for naturalisation, two years after receiving is or her permanent residence permit issued at the time of marriage to the South African citizen. A child under 21 who has a permanent residence permit qualifies for naturalisation immediately after the permit is issued.

Please note that different provisions existed in the years before the current Act. Anyone affected by this who wants to have his or her citizenship determined must be individually consulted.

There are many cases where the original South African citizenship is still intact in spite of the holder having taken up the citizenship of another country. Where a citizenship e.g. by birth, however, has been lost the former holder thereof often has an automatic right to permanent residence, which right needs to be officially confirmed. The situation is similar in the cases of former holders of Namibian (i.e. South West African) and South African citizenship and whose South African citizenship was withdrawn due to political changes.