# Child residency in SA



## bazza19824 (Jul 20, 2017)

We are moving back to South Africa next year, me and my wife were born in South Africa, and still hold valid South African passports (We both have dual citizenship). 

But our children were born in U.K, and only have U.K passports and birth certificates (we did not register them as South African citizens when they were born). Is there anything we need to do for the kids when we move back, like organising visa/residency permission to stay in South Africa with us.

Our children are now 5 and 7 years old.


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## mjh (Oct 24, 2016)

Bazza,

I was in a similar position a few years ago, except that I am UK citizen only, my wife was dual citizen and our kids were then 5 and 2. We applied for them to become SA citizens on basis of Mum's citizenship. This was in addition to them already being UK citizens.

We applied first for the SA birth certificates. Strictly this should be done in the month after birth with concession for a year, but as you can imagine the reality is different and they accepted our our motivation. Once they had their birth certificate we then applied for their SA passports. I applied directly at the consulate in those days and the whole process took probably 5-6 months.

The alternative is to apply for their temporary residence, then permanent residence then citizenship which will take much longer, cost much more in money and time and will require more administration.

I don't think you can get the kids to live there on just UK passports without at least a temporary residence.


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## bazza19824 (Jul 20, 2017)

Hi mjh,

Thank you very much for the reply.

Since writing this post I have been down to the SA House in London (went yesterday).

We were told we would have to apply for our children's birth certificates, and once that has been completed, we can apply for their passports as you said above.

A lot of the process has changed at SA House which has not been updated on their website. They can now issue and process proof of child's registration there and then at SA House and apply for their passports on the same day. As long as I have letter from Her Majesty's Passport Office stating my British Citizenship, and I have my SA ID, SA Passport and British Passport. The same with my wife.

It has made the whole process a lot smoother, and we hope to have everything done in about 12 weeks.


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