banjo

Hi there,

hoping someone can help me with this. I will soon be applying for Australian citizenship, but don't want to relinquish my South African just yet. My question is....do I need to get an exemption certificate before I lodge my Oz citizenship application or have they done away with that? I've had a look at a couple of their websites and the UK one has more info than the Oz one, but I'm still confused. If I absolutely have to I will contact the DHA....but don't have a lot of confidence that they will give me the right info. Anyone on here been through this.....?

G'Day

Oh, I understand your confusion, even the Department of Home Affairs has conflicting information on their web page. My husband is a South African & when we recently became citizens he was told he would not lose his citizenship in RSA as it was deemed "unconstitutional" for a citizen to lose citizenship. So he didn't bother requesting to keep his citizenship. Recently, when he wanted to sell some property in SA the SARS informed him that he had to pay capital gains tax on the property (even though it's the only one he owns) because he is no longer a SA citizen due to having received Australian citizenship.

I would therefore, if you wanted to keep your RSA citizenship, go to this web page of the Department of Home Affairs http://home-affairs.pwv.gov.za/sa_ci...ds=citizenship and complete the required paperwork before applying for citizenship elsewhere. You will need this form http://home-affairs.pwv.gov.za/documents/bi-1664.pdf). Otherwise you will get a nasty surprise.

For anyone who wasn't aware of this and who recently lost their citizenship in similar circumstances, you can apply for resumption of your citizenship on this form http://home-affairs.pwv.gov.za/documents/bi-175e.pdf

banjo

Thanks for that info G'day! I shall learn from your experience I think and just apply for the exemption anyway. Have you now got the resumption of his citizenship sorted out?

Does anyone know how many citizenships a person can hold? We registered my eldest son's birth with the SA authorities and also holds British.....as we are applying for Australian will he have to give up one of the others beforehand?

TouristTrap

Whenever you go back to S.A., you have to enter the country on your South African passport. Just a heads up.

sa2oz

This is a bit of a quandry for me. I still am only RSA citizen but want to change that ASAP.
I have a 3rd party claim and been paid partially to my attorney. They say they cannot send it to me without reserve bank OK.They say because I am RSA citizen it cant happen. I will take up Oz citizenship, but have heard interesting stories about keeping SA citizenship.
I will never live there again but am worried about dual? I suppose the regs will change everyyear in SA so who knows.
Do I dont I

JAJ

He will keep British citizenship regardless.

As for South African, if you really want him to keep that (not all South Africans do) then you need to check how the loss of citizenship legislation (and exemptions) work as regarding minor children. He may be liable to lose South African citizenship if you do.


Jeremy

sa2oz

Suppose you go back on an Australian passport, and dont take the SA one, what happens then? I did not think that they would be able to connect an Australian passpost to you being South African that easily. Maybe I will give it a try to find out unless someone can tell me.

G'Day

He will lose his citizenship status if he is a minor and his parents lose their status. That happened to our children.

JAJ

If you have lost South African citizenship - there should be no impact at all, except you get treated like any other tourist on arrival.

If you are still a South African citizen, they will expect you to use a South African passport. I wouldn't try making this complicated.

If you are born in South Africa, your birthplace will be shown on your Australian passport.

If you're South African by descent or naturalisation it will be less obvious but:
if you've had a South African passport or citizenship certificate issued, or if you've applied for permission to keep South African citizenship, then your details may well be in their 'system'.

And it may be obvious from your accent.

I'd have thought that if you want to keep South African citizenship, then using a South African passport ought not to be a problem. And if you don't, then use an Australian passport and tell them you are no longer a South African citizen.


Jeremy

JAJ

Don't you have to be living in South Africa to be eligible for this?



Jeremy

banjo

no such luck....my little fella is already saying stugg like 'moyne' (mine) and 'noyne' (nine), g'day and beaut.....just like a real Aussie!

G'day....how does your husband feel about losing his citizenship and how do you both feel about this for the children? Will you guys apply for a resumption?

A few weeks ago I answered a topic and said I would give up my SA citizenship for Aussie as we had no plans to return to SA. That got me thinking though and it made it all seem very final and 'stuff.' I mean.....what if we did what to go back in 20 years?? I do feel that the children losing their citizenship rights because of whatever decision we make is grossly unfair. All the rest of my family are still there so it is conceivable that my children might one day like to have SA as an option to live in. (Hence the question about how many passports).

I guess what I am looking for is someone to just tell me that there's nothing worth going back to live for, and with the government now trying to seize their first white owned farm....there isn't likely to be anything to go back for in our lifetime.

JAJ

If you do want to keep South African citizenship:

1. You need to find out whether you need to get approval for retention before you *apply* for Australian citizenship or before you *acquire* Australian citizenship. You only acquire Australian citizenship when you attend a citizenship ceremony and make the Pledge of Commitment to Australia.

2. Do they ask retention applicants for proof they are not Australian citizens? If so, what does this proof consist of?

3. Bear in mind that the residence period for Australian citizenship is shortly increasing to three years from two. Unless they exempt existing PRs, you will need to *apply* for citizenship before the new law takes effect if you don't want it to apply to you.

4. You will be obliged to use a South African passport to enter and leave South Africa. You will not be entitled to Australian consular protection in South Africa.

On the other hand if you lose South African citizenship you may lose a lot of rights in South Africa. I don't know whether former South Africans are allowed to apply for special immigration visas, but even if they are, there's no guarantee these will still be around in 20 years.

While many South Africans aren't particularly worried about keeping South African citizenship, it's not so clear cut as it might be if you were from Zimbabwe.


Jeremy

sa2oz

Funny you say that, my younger child sound like a Regte Egte Queenslander. My daughter a bit older sometimes does. Us adults seem stuck in Seth Efricen .
I wont go back to live unless I have to but was wondering about children wanting too. They are not interested at all at the moment, but who knows

CPW

Who knows indeed! And, moreover, whatever situation might obtain now in South Africa (and Australia, for that matter), it doesn't follow at all that things will be the same in, say, 20 or 25 years' time. They might well not thank you if they discover later that they could have been South African citizens but are not.

sa2oz

We will make that their descision, but we have a year, maybe 2 to worry about that scenario.