Tag Archive for: citizenship

Recently, we launched outbound immigration services to various locations, including the United States and Grenada, which you can learn more about by visiting our website here, or viewing our outbound services brochure here.

Our Immigration Lead, Lynn Mackenzie, recently had the pleasure of speaking to Sonja, our United States Immigration partner, and Arwah, our Grenada Immigration partner, about the immigration landscapes in those locations. Specifically, they discussed the USA’s E-2 and EB-5 programs, and the Grenada Citizenship by Investment program.

To listen to Lynn, Sonja, and Arwah’s conversation about immigration in the current context, click here to view the recording, or view it below.

We would like to say a huge thank you to Sonja and Arwah for their insights. We hope you enjoy the recording.

For information as to how Relocation Africa can help you with your Mobility, Immigration, Research, Remuneration, and Expat Tax needs, email info@relocationafrica.com, or call us on +27 21 763 4240.

Sources: [1], [2]. Image sources: [1], [2].

It has taken four years of legal battles – but now, if you were born in South Africa to foreign parents, you can apply for citizenship. It has been an “agonizing journey” for those who consider South Africa to be their only home.

The department of home affairs’ opposition to the court bid by five adults, representing others in a similar situation, for the vindication of their rights, was dealt a death blow by the Constitutional Court last week. The court simply ruled that it would not hear any further argument on the matter.

The department had not filed its papers in time, and it had not given good reason for this. What this means for Mariam Ali, Aden Salih, Kanu Nkololo, Caroline Masuki, Murphy Nganga and any others “similarly situated” is that their previous victory in the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) now stands.

In terms of that order, the minister must accept their applications for citizenship and make a decision within 10 days.

The SCA declared that if you were born in South Africa to foreign parents who have not been admitted as permanent residents, you qualify to apply for South African citizenship upon becoming a major – if your birth was registered and if you have lived here all your life, irrespective of the date of your birth.

It also ordered the minister to enact the necessary forms to allow for such applications within one year. Pending this, he must accept applications on affidavit. The application, brought with the assistance of the Legal Resources Centre (LRC), was first set down in the Western Cape High Court.

It was argued that the centre’s clients had all complied with the Citizenship Amendment Act, which came into effect in January 2013. They were all born in South Africa to foreign parents and they had all turned 18, but their applications for citizenship under naturalisation laws were being refused.

In fact, they said, they were being told that such an application form did not even exist.

In that court, the minister argued that the act only applied to children born after January 2013 and could not be applied retrospectively. In fact, his lawyers argued, it did not even apply to children who turned 18 after that date but only to children born after that date.

Any retrospective application would create “an unnecessary flow of applications and burden the already strained resources of the department”. The Western Cape High Court ruling in favour of the centre’s clients was taken on appeal to the SCA by the minister.

There, the department of home affairs changed its argument. Retrospectivity was no longer an issue. Instead, it was argued that those affected should have put the minister on terms to deal with their applications and, if they were refused, they could then launch court proceedings to review and set aside the decisions.

“But this was untenable,” the judges said. “It is difficult to understand on what basis the minister could have made any decision. They were never given an opportunity to apply. They were just turned away.

“The argument is consistent with the ongoing attempts to frustrate and delay their application. It is not in the interests of justice to send them from pillar to post, simply because the minister adopted a supine attitude that the regulations will only be promulgated in due course.”

They were being treated unfairly, the court ruled, dismissing the appeal. Sherylle Dass, LRC regional director in Cape Town, said they had opposed the state’s application for leave to appeal to the Constitutional Court, saying it was an attempt to have a “second bite of the cherry” in spite of conceding the bulk of their submissions in the lower courts.

“Despite these concessions, some 10 months later, the state decided to change its stance. We believed it was an abuse of process. They plainly had no reasonable prospects of success and again it showed a total disregard for taxpayers, who have to foot the bill for these types of vexatious proceedings.”

She said that during those 10 months, when there was no indication of any appeal, the clients had submitted their citizenship applications but they were not dealt with.

“Following the dismissal of their appeal, we will now be demanding the adjudication of those citizenship applications and we will approach the courts if necessary, should a decision not be made within 10 days, in accordance with the SCA ruling.

“Our clients have had to endure a long and painful journey to obtain citizenship, with some of them all but giving up hope of being finally accepted by a country they have grown to love – the only country they have called home.

“A large part of this agonizing journey could have been avoided if decision makers within the department of home affairs exercised reason and caution by not arbitrarily abusing the court processes to delay and frustrate the exercise of the clear and unequivocal right of these applicants.”

For information as to how Relocation Africa can help you with your Mobility, Immigration, Research, Remuneration, and Expat Tax needs, email info@relocationafrica.com, or call us on +27 21 763 4240.
Sources: [1], [2]. Image sources: [1], [2].

Johannesburg – Children born in SA to foreign parents are entitled to apply for citizenship, the Western Cape High Court ruled on Thursday, the Legal Resources Centre said.

“The LRC are pleased with the judgment which affirms the rights of our clients to be treated with dignity and not to be rendered non-citizens through the wrongful interpretation of statutes,” said LRC spokesperson Claire Martens in a statement.

Martens said the ruling applied even if the children were born before the 2010 Amendment, which came into effect in 2013.

She said the applicants, represented by the LRC, were all born in SA to foreign parents before 2013 and majority of them were now over 18.

“They meet the requirements for applying for citizenship in terms of section 4(3) of the Citizenship Act, in that they were born in South Africa and have lived here since their births, and they have birth certificates attesting to their birth in South Africa,” she said.

‘Vulnerable to hostilities’

Martens said the department of home affairs had refused to consider their applications for citizenship.

“The LRC approached the High Court on behalf of the applicants, arguing that the refusal to consider the applications for citizenship is prejudicial to our clients in a real way, having not only practical implications but also infringing on constitutional entitlements.

“But not allowing them citizenship, the department is consigning them, unlawfully, to remain as non-citizens in the country that they have lived in since birth and is the only country they know.”

Martens said the non-citizen status also rendered the applicants “vulnerable to hostilities” directed at them.

She said judgment agreed that there were constitutional entitlements at stake, including the right to dignity.

“It further states that the applicants have a statutory right to apply for citizenship and the respondents cannot limit or interfere with this right by contending that no prejudice flows.”

While the court did not direct the department to provide the applicants with citizenship, Martens said it directed the department to accept the applications for citizenship from the applicants and make a decision on the applications within 10 days.

“The court also directed that the Amendment Act must be interpreted to include children born before 2013,” said Martens.

For an application of citizenship, please contact marketing@relocationafrica.com or call our head office on +27217634240.

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Cape Town – The SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) is to review why children born in South Africa to foreign parents are not automatically awarded citizenship by the Department of Home Affairs.

Advocate Priscilla Jana, deputy chairperson of the SAHRC, said she been unaware that unabridged birth certificates were not issued to children born to foreign parents. “We will look into this matter,” she said.

Department of Home Affairs spokesperson Thabo Mokgola said the department’s policy was that “for record purposes a notice of birth” would be issued instead.

Cape Town attorney Joy van der Heyde said she had filed nine notices against Home Affairs in the Western Cape High Court. They related to the department’s alleged refusal to issue unabridged birth certificates to foreign parents.

In another matter, Van der Heyde accused the department of failing to issue an unabridged birth certificate to a refugee whose daughter was born in the country.

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