Understanding the Retention of South African Citizenship: A Guide for Citizens Abroad

Understanding the Retention of South African Citizenship: A Guide for Citizens Abroad

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To South African expatriates, it is extremely important to maintain one’s citizenship, more so with a view to obtaining another citizenship. South Africa accepts dual citizenship, but it is a necessity to follow some procedures after dual citizenship to ensure that you still have your South African citizenship. Omission of these kinds of steps by the court may lead to the automatic loss of citizenship in South Africa.



You need written permission from the Department of Home Affairs to acquire foreign citizenship while remaining a South African citizen. This is through presenting an application accompanied by a fee. Afterward, you will be informed in writing that you are allowed to have dual citizenship upon approval.

More importantly, the retention process is only deemed necessary when the other citizenship is gained on own volition. Retention does not apply to you if you are born with dual or more citizenships. Home Affairs information should always be crosschecked in case currently there exist new policies that a certain nationality possesses. Keeping your citizenship is very important because it enables one to enjoy all benefits of being a South African while in foreign land.