Comments on: Dual Citizenship – SA/USA

By: tony

tony — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 23:36:06 +0000

This great information! Are you an attorney, or just a very informed citizen?

By: Cher

Cher — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 17:06:26 +0000

From what I understand, I have lost my SA citizenship, so can I travel to SA using my foreign passport? Will I be in trouble with SA governmnet for NOT having retained my SA citizenship?

By: johnels

johnels — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 16:41:36 +0000

Nadia, if you were born in the US, then you already had US citizenship from birth, right? Did you then acquire South African citizenship later? Assuming that you did acquire SA citizenship later, the way I think about this is that from the South African point of view, you did not acquire the citizenship of another country after becoming a South African citizen. You already had US citizenship at the time. In such a case, you should be OK.

By: nadia

nadia — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 12:35:50 +0000

hi, i live in south africa but was born us. recently got my us passport. but i didnt inform the sa gov before hand. does that mean that i have lost my sa citizenship?
thanks

By: johnels

johnels — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 23:45:22 +0000

Billy, I agree that it may be difficult for the SA govt to detect if you got US citizenship, but I don't think it is necessarily impossible. One slip-up somewhere, and they may find out. Then, if it matters to you to keep your SA citizenship, you will be in trouble because they will revoke it. If it's important to you to keep your SA citizenship, I think it's just safer to follow their requirements, even if it is a pain.

By: johnels

johnels — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 23:41:37 +0000

Nadine, for your little one, you need to register his/her birth with South Africa. That will be step 1 in obtaining SA citizenship for him/her. About the rest of the process, you need to ask the SA Embassy. I imagine you will have to apply for a SA birth certificate, and then for a SA passport. About your other kids, I'm not sure if getting US-issued birth certificates means they now have US citizenship. If not, as I suspect, then they will automatically get US citizenship when you get it. Before you start your US naturalization process, but sure to apply with SA for retention of your SA citizenship.

By: Nadine

Nadine — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 15:55:24 +0000

How do i go about getting my kids dual citizenship. My 2 older ones were born in SA but got american birth certificates at the USA embassy and my little one is born here. I am still a SA citizen with a USA greencard. I am looking into getting dual citizenship for all of us.

By: Billy

Billy — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 01:21:30 +0000

What will happen if you simply do not inform the SA government of your second citizenship. How can they prove if you have obtained a second citizenship? Can you not simply deny it if asked? Filling out forms simply puts a RED FLAG next to your name and gives them an opportunity to give you trouble. Simply travel in and out to SA with SA passport and admit nothing. Any comments??

By: Jay

Jay — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 18:26:56 +0000

What if you have dual citizenship but want to enter on your US passport and not your SA passport as you are married, your name has changed and your infant travelling with you is only on a US passport? If I had to travel on a SA passport I would have to apply for one, they will not honor my new married name and then the name on your air ticket has to match that on your passport, so then I face problems coming back into the US on my US passport where my name won't match that on my airline ticket…

By: antony

antony — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 00:52:19 +0000

Thank you for the useful information. I also found excellent information from an immigration lawyer on dual US/other citizenship at this website: http://www.richw.org/dualcit/faq.html Hope it helps!