Before gaining nationalities of other countries, South Africans must familiarize themselves with South African citizenship regulations in order to decide what must be done to avoid losing South African citizenship.
CITIZENSHIP AND SPREAD OF SA EXPATS
South Africans are currently dispersed over the globe. One need just stroll along a high street in Sydney or London…or in Tel Aviv or Dubai…to hear recognizable South African accents, which are now widespread in practically every part of the world.
Many South Africans who relocate overseas intend to get a new nationality and/or passport. Relocation is considered by many South African families as a means of securing a better future for their children, while for others it is a means of escaping deteriorating standards and the dysfunctional state towards which SA looks to be trending.
SA DOES NOT rank first.
LEAVING BUT NOT EMIGRATING
The majority of South Africans who leave the country to dwell in foreign countries do so without legally emigrating. The Department of Home Affairs does not maintain official records on South Africans who have left the country.
The majority of fleeing South Africans do not formally declare emigration or revoke their South African passports, as many still hold South Africa dear but desire to obtain secondary passports with greater mobility.
ACQUIRING SECOND NATIONALITIES
Numerous expatriates qualify for nationality in their adoptive nations after residing there for specified periods of time. Numerous South Africans obtain citizenship in nations such as Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Ireland, and the United Kingdom after legally residing there for appropriate periods of time.
When acquiring a second nationality, many South Africans are unaware that they lose their SA citizenship unless they petition to the Department of Home Affairs to keep SA nationality beforehand.
LOSING SA CITIZENSHIP
Citizenship Act of South Africa, section 6(1), provides that South Africans will lose their citizenship if they freely acquire citizenship of another nation. According to BusinessTech, this is an extension of the old apartheid statute.
Gary Moore, a senior researcher at the Free Market Foundation, stated that thousands of South Africans are being stripped of their citizenship without their knowledge.
CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT OF S.A.
Moore reviewed a 2021 application to the Pretoria High Court for an order declaring Section 6(1) of the Citizenship Act unconstitutional, as the South African Constitution says that no citizen may be stripped of citizenship.
Jody Kollapen, judge of the Pretoria High Court, upheld Section 6 (1). According to Kollapen, the fundamental right in the Bill of Rights to not be deprived of citizenship is intended to avoid statelessness. He said that the Constitution’s citizenship provision does not apply to South Africans seeking citizenship in another nation, as they are not stateless.
Kollapen stated that South Africans wishing to emigrate to nations where they can acquire citizenship should familiarize themselves with the applicable citizenship legislation.
»Expats are ‘unknowingly’ losing their South African citizenship«