# Son returning to SA



## bokenpop (Jun 15, 2014)

Hi all,

In 2002 I married an American who did not want to live in SA so my son, who was 9 at the time, and I relocated to USA. I am very happy living here and do not want to return but my son who is now 20 wants to move back to SA to be with our extensive family living there.

We are American passport holders and do not have dual citizenship so I am assuming he will need to apply for either permanent residence to retain his passport or emigrate back to his country of birth.

Can anyone please advise on how he should go about this with regard to applications etc. He is planning to fly back to SA within the month.


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## Jem62 (Jul 25, 2012)

He can apply for a resumption of South African citizenship once he is in the country, he needs to convince the authorities that his move is permanent. Or he should just apply for an SA passport and ID book, the DHA are not overly concerned about SA's returning provided that they have an SA birth certificate.


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## LegalMan (Dec 26, 2012)

Jem62 is correct. Also, he must check if he still has (sometimes it happens) permanent residence. If not, the unabridged birth certificate is the key to the rest.

Check his ID number here and see what happens:
Department of Home Affairs: Check Status


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## bokenpop (Jun 15, 2014)

Thank you for your prompt replies. I will ask him to do as you suggested and just get his SA ID and passport. I will also recommend to him that he retain his US one for future use. Believe me, we went through hell to get it!


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