Sometimes applications for South African citizenship are rejected by the Department of Home Affairs. Scorpion Legal Protection looks at the reasons why.

If you weren’t born in South Africa, and do not have parents from South Africa, you have to apply for citizenship through naturalisation. This is a process that involves having a permanent residency permit, which you need to apply for through the Department of Home Affairs. Sometimes, these permits can be denied, and without a permanent residency permit, you cannot get citizenship.

Before you can apply for a permanent residency permit, you have to prove to the Minister of Home Affairs that you are not an undesirable or prohibited person.

You may be considered a prohibited person if:

• You are infected with infectious diseases that can spread easily. These diseases include cholera, pestilence, yellow fever and any other diseases as determined by the Department of Health from time to time.
• You have a warrant of arrest against you or a conviction for genocide, torture, drug trafficking, money laundering, kidnapping, terrorism, or murder secured in South Africa or any country with which South Africa has regular diplomatic relations.
• You are a member or supporter of an organisation practising racial hatred or social violence.
• You are a member of an organisation using crime or terrorism to reach its goals.
• You have previously been deported and have not been rehabilitated by the Department in the prescribed manner.

To be rehabilitated, you must submit a sworn affidavit or solemn declaration that you will comply with the Immigration Act 2002, the Department must have no reason to believe you will violate the Act again, and you must not have been inside the Republic of South Africa for a period of 4 years or more. Alternatively, you can be considered rehabilitated if you pay the State a fee of R50 000 (which may be reduced to R2 000 if you paid for the cost of your deportation as well as the related costs).

You can also be denied a permanent residency permit if the Department believes you are an undesirable person. This could mean you:

• Are now or are likely to become a public charge (meaning you will be dependent on the government to live).
• Are identified by the Minister (after consultation with the Immigration Advisory Board) as undesirable, or you have been declared incompetent.
• Are an unrehabilitated insolvent (unable to pay your debts)
• Are a fugitive from justice (you have fled from any state to avoid prosecution for a crime or to avoid giving testimony in any criminal proceeding).
• Have a previous criminal conviction without the option of a fine for conduct that would be an offence in South Africa (with the exclusion of certain prescribed offences).

Without a permanent residency permit, you cannot get citizenship through naturalisation.

You may also be interested in:
Getting a liquor licence
No employment contract, now what?
Debt paid up but still on his name

If you have a query, follow Scorpion Legal Protection on Facebook and ask your question during our next Live Q&A (every first Thursday of the month from 11:30- 13:30).

* This is only basic legal advice and cannot be relied on solely. The information is correct at the time of being sent to publishing.