South Africa - Apply for Citizenship by Descent

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Procedure

Apply In-Person:

1. To apply for Citizenship by descent in person, the applicant has to visit any nearest office of the Department of Home Affairs.
2. Please click on the following link for the contact details and address of the office of Department of Home affairs: Link Among the list of provinces, click on your province name and get the details accordingly.
3. Go to the office of DHA and obtain the application form for Notice of Birth (DHA-24) and a form for the Determination of your Citizenship (DHA-529), from the concerned Department. The forms can also be downloaded by using the following links:DHA-24:Link, DHA-529: Link
4. Complete the application forms by filling the relevant sections of the forms with appropriate information and make sure that you have all the documents listed under the “Required documents” section of this page.
5. Once completed filling the application forms, submit it along with all the required documents at the respective department in the office. Also pay the prompted fees at the office.
6. The submitted form and attached documents will be put into necessary validation and verification processes by concerned authorities.
7. Once when all the processes are done and provided information is found appropriate, the Minister of Home Affairs will make the necessary amendments for the grant of the Citizenship.

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Required Documents

• Completely filled DHA-24 form
• Completely filled DHA-529 form
• Complete registration of Applicant’s birth
• Form DHA-9 for application of identity document (if required)
• Marriage certificate of the parents or acknowledgement of paternity by both the parents
• Proof of citizenship/birth of the South African parent
• Proof of your parents’ identity.
• Police report from the country of nationality and RSA (above 15 years)
• Report of interview of both the applicant and South African parent
• Proof of paternity or DNA tests (above 15 years)
• Adoption order (if applicable)

Office Locations & Contacts

Department of Home Affairs - Head Office
Physical Address : Hallmark Building,
230 Johannes Ramokhoase,
Pretoria,
Gauteng,
0001,
South Africa.
Postal Adress : Private Bag X114,
Pretoria,
0001,
Phone: 012 406 2500
Email: [email protected]
Website ,Link 2

Department Of Home Affairs Offices

Eligibility

• If you were born outside of South Africa to a parent who was a South African citizen at the time of your birth or you were adopted by a South African citizen, and your birth was registered, you can apply for citizenship by descent.
• Any person, to whose responsible parent a certificate of the resumption of previous South African citizenship has been issued, and who has entered the Republic for permanent residence therein before becoming a major, can apply.
• The applicant should be aware of the sections relevant to the Citizenship by Descent in the South African Citizenship Amendment Act and Birth and Death Registration Act, before applying.

Fees

• Please approach the authorities for appropriate fees details.
  

Validity

Explain the time until which the certificate/document is valid.
e.g. Birth Certificate Valid Forever

Documents to Use

Forms to complete
DHA-24: Link
DHA-529: Link

Sample Documents

Please attach sample completed documents that would help other people.

Processing Time

Please explain processing time taken in obtaining the document/certificate.

Related Videos

Videos explaining the procedure or to fill the applications.
Attach videos using the following tag <&video type='website'>video ID|width|height<&/video&> from external websites.
Please remove the '&' inside the tags during implementation.
Website = allocine, blip, dailymotion, facebook, gametrailers, googlevideo, html5, metacafe, myspace, revver,
sevenload, viddler, vimeo, youku, youtube
width = 560, height = 340, Video ID = Can be obtained from the URL of webpage where the video is displayed.
e.g In the following url 'http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0US7oR_t3M' Video ID is 'Y0US7oR_t3M'.

Instructions

• All births registered by the Department are in terms of the Births and Deaths Registration Act. There is no exclusion or separate requirements for foreign birth registrations.
• Supporting documents must be attached to an application as prescribed in the Births and Deaths Registration Act. Only complete applications with required supporting documents will be accepted and processed for Foreign Birth Registration.
• Offices must ensure that parents/grandparents birth certificates are attached with every application submitted. Without these no application will be processed.

Required Information

• Name and Surname
• Identity number
• Date and Place of birth
• Address information
• Contact information
• Particulars of the Parents/legal guardian

Need for the Document

• The need of the procedure is to obtain Citizenship be descent and registering one’s birth that occurred in other nationalities than the SA republic, whose parents and grandparents belong to South Africa.
  

Information which might help

• No person who, after having ceased to be a South African citizen, at any time, thereafter acquires South African citizenship, by naturalization in the Republic, shall be a South African citizen by descent.
  

Other uses of the Document/Certificate

Please explain what are other uses of obtaining this document/certificate.
e.g. Birth Certificate can be used as proof of identity.

External Links

Place some external links which might help.

Others

More information which might help people.