BootsnAll Travel Community

Hey all

I have a south african passport and a green card for the US. I have heard that it is possible to get dual citizenship but that you have to apply to SA before applying for US citizenship. Has anyone done this? Or any advice you may have for me??

Thanks
Trekker

I'll enquire for you... my ex host family in Denver were South African but now are American citizens so i'll ask them what they did! Watch this space

For the SA govt act, you could have a read from Chapter 3 on here
If link doesn't function, go to www.projectvisa.com Africa, SA, then Home office link and put South African National dual citizenship into search box.

Seems to imply you can elect to be one or the other Trekker but it is up to you to decide and notify and doesn't say you can decide not to notify them -and what they don't know! - but then it would also depend on US official attitude.

I might be mistaken but I thought SA doesn't recognize dual citizenships? i.e. if you do get your US citizenship after all, and the SA immigration finds out, you could lose your SA citizenship.

Heard that this happen to a friend of a friend who had dual citizenship (SA and USA) but mistakenly used two passports at the same time (something like that) and the SA immigration found out, and she consequently lost her passport and therefore her citizenship..

I just found this on the SA home Affairs website!

Happy reading!

Thanks Dopey..

I called the SA consulate in LA and they are sending me the paperwork to apply for dual citizenship, no problem. I will also be applying for US citizenship soon since the fee will be going up to over $500.

Wish me luck all

Trekker

Trekker,

I have dual citizenship (US and Romania). To get US citizenship (hard as hell) had only to do with the INS laws, no one asked about the Romanian passport and no one asked me to give it up. Good luck!

RR

Yep...I just got the US citizenship (still paid $400 when applying last October). They did not take away my Taiwan passport at the citizenship oath.

So South Africans are basically allowed dual citizenship but only allowed to enter South Africa with SA passport? Well, that's actually not too bad. I heard South Korean government automatically cancel Korean citizenship once its people obtain another country's citizenship....

I also have dual citizenship's; British and South African.

You used to-have-to-have a letter from SA home affairs stating that you have permission to hold two passports. If I am correct, they changed this rule a while ago and you are no longer "allowed" to hold another passport if you are a SA citizen.

Just make sure, that you enter and leave SA on your SA passport (AKA the Green Mamba, cause no-one wants to touch it