South Africa Immigration - Spouse Visa & Child dual citizenship - South Africa forum

South Africa Immigration - Spouse Visa & Child dual citizenship

29POSTS

14 years ago

Okay, its difficult to find a straight answer on this. I am trying to find out what I need to do and how long it might take to do the following.

Our Information:
Married Couple - almost 5 years married
Female - British Citizen
Male - Dual SA & British Citizen
Child - born in Britain (will be a newborn - only a couple of months old at time of move)
Want to move to South Africa

We need to do the following:

1) Apply for a British Passport for baby
2) Apply for a SA spousal visa for me
3) Apply for South African citizenship for baby

Questions

1) Do you know how long it takes to get a UK passport for baby while we are still in the UK?

2) Can I apply for a SA temporary resident (spouse) visa and a permanent resident (spouse) visa at the same time from the UK?

3) Can I apply for a temporary visa once we are married for 5 years?

4) Can I move to South Africa on the temporary visa and then receive the permanent visa while I am in South Africa?

5) If I cant apply for a temporary visa can I move to South Africa on a tourist visa while waiting for the permanent visa to come through.

6) How long after receiving the temporary and/or permanent visa do I have to arrive in South Africa?

7) Can our child travel with us to South Africa on the UK passport before we have them registered in South Africa?

8) Will the baby require a visa? Or are they automatically allowed through my husband's citizenship or my spouse visa to come with us?

9) Can I apply for South African citizenship for baby while in UK and finish it in South Africa if we have to move before it is finalised? (Is it based to start this process in the UK or wait until South Africa).

10) In the UK who do I need to contact to do all these things!

Phew! Just a few things! Thanks for any help you can give.

1 member reacted to this post

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fleur defries Member

1POSTS

14 years ago

Hi there

Someone with similar questions who got a lot of useful answers posted a question about this on this side. Go to the Home page, scroll down and you should see links under Recent Discussions that might help you. I am a British citizen married to a South African for more than 5 years now and having gone through a lot of hassle for my permits from this side I must tell you that it's a long and frustrating process. But the answers to the other person's questions are very useful, so hope that helps!

punkypete New member

5POSTS

13 years ago

Hi there Pikkewyntjie
So, some time has elasped since your initial question, and I'm wondering how you got on, as I am in a similar situation...
I'm British and married to a South African currently holding ILr but son to apply for UK naturalisation. We're expecting our 1st baby next year and then going to move to SA afterwards.
What visa issues did you face with the baby? I think it will be easiest for us to get a UK passport initially from the UK, then thinking about applying for dual citizenship and an SA passport when we get to SA. I understand that we would have to register the birth of the child with the SA high commission within 90 days or something?
Struggling to find answers to all of this - may end up just asking someone like Breytenbachs...
If you have any experience with this I would love to hear from you..

thanks

pikkewyntjie Active member

29POSTS

13 years ago

We are just about to start the visa journey.

We will be applying for dual citizenship for our baby who is going to be born in the UK to a British mum and a dual citizen (British and SA) dad. It asks for a copy of my husbands retention of south african citizenship letter/certificate. My husband is positive he did this when he arranged his SA passport renewal and British naturalisation through the immigration firm Breytenbach in 2006. However we can not find a copy of the letter and he ant recall whether Breytenbach ever gave it to him/if it was sent off when he got naturalisation.

Questions:
1) Can we apply for our babies SA citizenship without it? Or can we get a copy from somewhere, Breytenbach no longer has his records, we are hoping we can get something from the High Commission. Has anyone had to do this before?

2) if we apply and leave for SA before the passport is ready (we would travel on my spouse and dependents temporary visa) can the baby's passport be picked up by a nominated person (ie my parents) in the UK or be sent to us in South Africa?

pikkewyntjie Active member

29POSTS

13 years ago

I have some answers to my original questions if that helps anyone else:

Questions

1) Do you know how long it takes to get a UK passport for baby while we are still in the UK?
Go to:
Takes 1 week fast track and around 3-4 weeks under normal application

2) Can I apply for a SA temporary resident (spouse) visa and a permanent resident (spouse) visa at the same time from the UK?
Yes you can

6) How long after receiving the temporary and/or permanent visa do I have to arrive in South Africa?
I have been told 6 months but i'm not sure if this is a hard and fast rule.

7) Can our child travel with us to South Africa on the UK passport before we have them registered in South Africa?
They can travel as a UK citizen but require the normal visa that would apply to a British citizen.

9) Can I apply for South African citizenship for baby while in UK and finish it in South Africa if we have to move before it is finalised? (Is it best to start this process in the UK or wait until South Africa).
I don't know the exact answer but the High Commission indicate tat birth registration needs to happen within 30 days.

10) In the UK who do I need to contact to do all these things!
Newborn SA birth and passport registration:

Child's first UK passport:

Spouse temporary visa:

1 member reacted to this post

sharleenb Member

1POSTS

13 years ago

(moderated: no free ads please + you should register in the business directory. Thanks)

I would recommend that you use an experienced Immigrations Practitioner as they often have contacts which can ensure that your immigration process is smoother.

Regards
Sharleen

punkypete New member

5POSTS

13 years ago

Hi there again,
Do you have any more info on whether the baby can travel to Sa before you have the full birth registration back yet? We are hoping to do something very similar to yourselves,
Actually I will send you a PM pikkewyntjie as we have a lot in common and a chat would probably be easiest!!

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ImmigrationSouthAfrica Serial expat

206POSTS

13 years ago

Looking at the first set of questions, here are the answers for the current legislation.

1) Do you know how long it takes to get a UK passport for baby while we are still in the UK?
7 working days through the Passport Office. Your child will be issued a 5 year passport. Please provide a certified copy of your child聮s birth certificate

2) Can I apply for a SA temporary resident (spouse) visa and a permanent resident (spouse) visa at the same time from the UK?
Once you have been married for longer than 5 years, you are able to apply for permanent residency. Yes, you can make both applications through the South African High commission in London. The permanent residency application will be referred to Pretoria and take over 12months to issue. I suggest applying for your temporary residency permit first in London, then submitting your permanent residency permit once you have arrived.

3) Can I apply for a temporary visa once we are married for 5 years?
You can apply for it the moment you get married, so yes.

4) Can I move to South Africa on the temporary visa and then receive the permanent visa while I am in South Africa?
Please see answer 2

5) If I cant apply for a temporary visa can I move to South Africa on a tourist visa while waiting for the permanent visa to come through.
Please see answer 2

6) How long after receiving the temporary and/or permanent visa do I have to arrive in South Africa?
There is no written rule, but we suggest no later than 90 days from issuance.

7) Can our child travel with us to South Africa on the UK passport before we have them registered in South Africa?
if you have not been able to get a South African passport issued for your child on the basis of its father being South Africa, then your child would also apply for a temporary residency permit on the basis of being a dependent

8) Will the baby require a visa? Or are they automatically allowed through my husband's citizenship or my spouse visa to come with us?
please see answer 7

9) Can I apply for South African citizenship for baby while in UK and finish it in South Africa if we have to move before it is finalised? (Is it based to start this process in the UK or wait until South Africa).
You need to finish a process in the country in which the process began. So no, you would need to get the South African passport for your child before you leave. I am not sure how long this process takes. I estimate 9 weeks.

10) In the UK who do I need to contact to do all these things!
No idea in the UK, and on this forum I may not advertise for SA either. They are very strict on no advertising, but I'm sure I am allowed to say that you can search in Google and should come right. The only advice is that you should use immigration lawyers only.

I hope this helps all of you with the same questions.