[IconBoy]

My South African friend in Oregon suggested this website, so hi everyone!

I am now eligible to apply for US citizenship as I have been married to a US citizen for 5½ years and have been in the US for nearly 3½ years. I have all my documents ready to send off but need that one extra bit of info, to be on the safe side.
Currently, I have dual citizenship with South Africa and UK. (I successfully applied for retention of South African citizenship). I phoned the South Africa consulate in Chicago and was told that because I already applied for retention when applying for UK citizenship, that I would not need to apply again for retention when I get US citizenship - I never got the name of the person who told me this at the consulate.

Does anyone here know if this is in fact positively true as I don't want to jeopardise my South Africa citizenship. My daughter has three citizenships (UK, SA and USA) and that has not been a problem. (Incidentally, having more than two citizenships is still called "dual" and not "tri").
If I ultimately need to apply again for retention, do I need to wait for the letter to be sent back from SA before I send in my US application, or can I do both at the same time; figuring the US one will be about 6 months or so to come through?

Anyone with more than two citizenships, could you please share your information please. With thanks.

[oscar]

After we applied for the dual citizenship at the SA Embassy in Washington, DC. The embassy sends each applicant a letter. it has a reference number on it and states the following.

South African Citizenship act of 1995 Certificate of exemption in terms of section 6 (2) act 88 of 1995

It is hereby certified that the person listed below has been exempted in terms of section 6 (2) of the South African Citizenship Act ( Act No 88 of 1995 ) from loss of his South African citizenship and will therefore remain a South African when his United States citizenship is acquired.

the letter then gives full details of listed exempted person. -dob / full name and ID number.
and signed by the director of home affairs, on a Republic of South Africa letterhead.

Do you have one of these letters ?

Timeline- it takes less than a week to issue. The letter is issued by the Embassy. I really don't know if you need one for each country.

This post has been edited by oscar: 31 July 2010 - 04:52 AM

[IconBoy]

oscar, on 31 July 2010 - 05:45 AM, said:

Do you have one of these letters ?
Timeline- it takes less than a week to issue. The letter is issued by the Embassy. I really don't know if you need one for each country.

I do have one of those letters that I got seven years ago when I got UK citizenship. If I phone the SA Consulate (again) and double-check, I might just get another story from someone else. Would I want to risk it saying, "I was told I wouldn't need to apply again" and then being told that is not the case? Hmmn...! I know it's only about $18, but if it's not needed, I would rather not.

[oscar]

Ja boet ek weet nie .... But if you have been exempt already then I would lean towards you being safe.

[Spokie]

Quote

It is hereby certified that the person listed below has been exempted in terms of section 6 (2) of the South African Citizenship Act ( Act No 88 of 1995 ) from loss of his South African citizenship and will therefore remain a South African when his United States citizenship is acquired

I understand this part as you are exempt from losing your SA citizenship by acquiring your US citizenship...not any other citizenship. I might be wrong, but it seems you'll need a letter for each time you acquire citizenship from another country. I would keep double-checking until I get something in writing.

[IconBoy]

Spokie, on 31 July 2010 - 03:37 PM, said:

I would keep double-checking until I get something in writing.

Thanks Spokie. I think I will give them a call on Monday to double check. I was thinking it might be "per country" because it says you won't lose SA citizenship when you get US (or in my case UK), but not any. I suppose not many people get an opportunity for multiple citizenship! Maybe I will call the Los Angeles consulate as well. Let's see what they both say.

This post has been edited by IconBoy: 31 July 2010 - 02:43 PM

[oscar]

Personally, I would agree with Spokie you need something in writing . its worth paying the $18.00 for the peace of mind ,you just can't go on the verbal assurance especially something as important as your citizenship.

[Fiela]

Why would you want American, British and South African citizenship?
Just curious what your reasons are.

PS: I mean as-in a reason other than it might be nice to have three. Just wondering if you know something I don't

This post has been edited by Fiela: 03 August 2010 - 09:06 AM

[kika]

Asked the question yesterday at consul general in Toronto (not there yet but also have British and South African. Were told that we'll have to apply again if we were to get Canadian citizenship.

[IconBoy]

Fiela, on 03 August 2010 - 09:41 AM, said:

Why would you want American, British and South African citizenship?
Just curious what your reasons are.

PS: I mean as-in a reason other than it might be nice to have three. Just wondering if you know something I don't

Nope, I don't know something you don't — just that because my kids/wife are US, that it is important to have what they have so that I can stay here without issues. And in the future, my kids might want to go to UK to study/live and that is an "open door" for them I guess. Just my 3¢ worth

[Fiela]

Makes perfect sense, thanks for sharing

[rooiels]

If I just received my US citizenship, can I still get this letter from the SA Consulate to keep my SA citizenship? Or should I have gotten this letter prior to attaining my US citizenship?

[oscar]

You have to do it before you apply for your US citizenship, thats what the instructions say.
it will be too late now as you had to swear under oath that you have not applied for your US citizenship yet.

Why did you not research this before you applied ?

This post has been edited by oscar: 07 August 2010 - 01:43 PM

[Superkruz]

I have SA & Australian citizenship and reckon that if the SA authorities dont give me permission to obtain US citizenship (hopefully) one day and to retain SA citizenship, I will simply give up the SA citizenship and keep the other 2. My reason for saying this is because you are always entitled to SA permanent residence if you were born in SA. That means that if I ever want to move back to SA, I can do so by applying for PR which entitles me to live and work there forever while retaining Aus/US citizenship.The only thing is that I wont be able to vote - who cares about that anyway... we all know which party will win an election in SA.

[Malamute]

There is actually another Citizenship Amendment Bill tabled in Parliament. It doesn't address the dual citizenship issue - and there is some great commentry on this dual citizenship issue by an immigration lawyer - which is also very clear - here-
http://www.polity.or...bill-2010-07-28

This Citizenship Amendment Bill actually addresses the issue of obtaining citizenship in SA by birth. Currently that is only true if at least one of your parents is a citizen etc. Quite interesting, in light of the current debate on this in the USA immigration issues.