You don't need an unabridged birth certificate to travel anymore - if you do this

You don’t need an unabridged birth certificate to travel anymore – if you do this

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This is in line with the Department of Home Affairs’s new modernisation drive.

The move is set to appease parents travelling with minors‚ without necessarily compromising on security.

The move puts SA on the same level as most countries that already list the names of the parents on a child’s passport and removes the need to have an unabridged birth certificate.

Travellers from foreign countries who do not list the names of parents in minors’ passports still need to provide unabridged birth certificates.

Source: BusinessLIVE

Make sure all your documents are up-to-date when applying for a visa

Make sure all your documents are up-to-date when applying for a visa

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Immigration Specialist at Xpatweb Marisa Jacobs says visa applications that are done in South Africa take an average of four to eight weeks to be processed:

“There are very few embassies that have these very long processing time. A normal application would not take a long extended time and when it does, I would suggest the applicant engages with the embassy or the VFS centre to ask what the delay is and see if there is anything they can do.”

Jacobs says when applicants submit their applications they must make sure they have all the required documents and that they are up to date.

“When you are submitting abroad, the embassies will often ask for documentation. It’s a matter of not only checking the normal statutory requirements but also checking with the embassy if they have specific requirements that they have in addition and making sure you tick all those boxes when you submit.”

Who Will Qualify for Critical Skills Work Permit?

Who Will Qualify for Critical Skills Work Permit? – From Winemakers to Payroll Managers

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Foreign nationals who therefore have the skills listed on the Critical Skills list may apply for a Critical Skills Work Visa to work in South Africa. The list has been highly criticised, from not including many business skills, to certain categories being “abused” by a wide interpretation.

Over the last 18 months there has been talk of refining the list further with the “Corporate General Manager” category top of the chopping block. This new list is highly anticipated with wide spread speculation on what will be included, or perhaps more importantly excluded.

Do you need a new Museum Manager, Director of Marketing or IT specialist?

The Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) has published the “National list of occupations in high demand: 2018” listing over 370 high-demand occupations in South Africa.

The occupations listed are those that show relatively strong employment growth and/or are experiencing shortages in the labour market or which are expected to be in demand in future.

The Critical Skills list published in 2014 was developed in conjunction with the occupations in high demand and the scarce skills lists of the DHET. It is therefore expected that the 2018 list will again be consulted when revising the Critical Skills list and as such may provide a window into what we may expect from revised Critical Skills list.

For the first time the DHET list has been divided into three levels of demand, highest demand, higher demand, and high demand. Cross referencing the occupations on the above DHET list to the current Critical Skills list published in 2014, we highlighted below some of the occupations still showing high demand as well as a few new and emerging occupations not on the DHET list before and not on the current Critical Skills list.

Who will qualify for a critical skills work permit?

Delinking Citizenship and Permanent Residency

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The new white paper is looking to address our current outdated legislation as well as policy gaps in respect to international migration policies and has implemented a more modern holistic approach

How will these proposed changes affect Citizenship by naturalisation?

Delinking citizenship from permanent residence

Our current Citizenship Amendment Act of 2010, allows an applicant to apply for South African Citizenship by naturalisation if they have been a Permanent Resident Permit holder for a period of at least 10 years. Therefore, in terms of our current legislation there is a definite natural progression between the duration of having permanent residence and the right to apply for Citizenship.

The White Paper confirms that the granting of residency and citizenship should now be delinked. It proposes that the permanent residence permit be entirely replaced with a long-term residence visa that will be later reviewable and not contribute towards citizenship. Further a points-based system will be used to determine who will qualify for a short or long-term visa. The Department of Home Affairs proposes scoring an applicant based on their qualifications, age, investment amount, work experience, type of business and the ability to transfer skills. This is not unlike the immigration systems implemented by Canada and the United Kingdom where points-based systems are being used.

Accordingly, there will be no automatic progression from residency to citizenship in law or in practice. Further, that the granting of citizenship to foreign nationals should be considered as being exceptional and requiring an executive decision of the Minister of the Department of Home Affairs.

It is proposed that an advisory panel be established to consider citizenship applications and to make recommendations to the Minister. The purpose of these policy interventions is to enable South Africa to grant citizenship status to foreigners based on strategic, security considerations and national priorities.

In light of the above, if you were considering applying for South African Citizenship, it will be worthwhile taking into consideration the pending changes and making your application as soon as possible.

South African Expats – Is Your South African passport at risk?

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Expatriate Tax Exemption Changed

The tax law changes for 01 March 2020, limiting the tax exemption to R1m, have been promulgated. This has caused many South Africans abroad, very often for the first time, to consider the legal formalities of terminating their South African tax and exchange control residency. The financial emigration process does not impact your South African citizenship status, as this is purely a compliance formality from a South African Revenue Service and South African Reserve Bank perspective.

SARS confirmed passport status does not impact tax status

The South African Revenue Services is very aware of the differences between laws falling under the Department of Home Affairs and the Income Tax Act, even releasing a statement noting that –

“…Remember, the change is not related to citizenship and should not lead to South Africans giving up their passports, as its application rests solely on tax residency. Individuals who give up their passports may find they are still tax resident in South Africa and may still be liable for South African tax.”

Simply put, giving up your passport does not release you from your obligations to pay tax to SARS. Conversely, doing financial emigration which confirms you are not liable for tax on your world-wide income, does not impact your South African passport status.

So when can you lose citizenship?

In terms of the South African Citizenship Act No. 88 of 1995 where a South African citizen makes an application to obtain citizenship of another country, once obtained, you automatically lose your South African citizenship. The question on many expatriates lips are how this is possible, when we know you are Constitutionally guaranteed of South African citizenship by right of birth?

The solution

To give effect to your Constitutionally entrenched right, the Citizenship Act makes provision for “dual citizenship”. Section 6(2) of this Act states:

“Any person referred to in subsection (1) may, prior to his or her loss of South African citizenship in terms of this section, apply to the Minister to retain his or her South African citizenship, and the Minister may, if he or she deems it fit, order such retention.” (Our emphasis)

This application must be done before you have obtained your second citizenship and, in our view, cannot be legally declined where application is correctly done.

Where you have missed this deadline, you have technically given up your South African passport. I have consulted with one of the leading experts in the market hereon, Marisa Jacobs (marisa@xpatweb.com) and she mentioned that the loss of South African citizenship is not always equally enforced. There may be many South Africans who hold two citizenships and have never applied, neither had any issues with renewing their South African passport.  She mentioned that the prudent approach, where you have obtained a second citizenship, but have missed the opportunity to proactively apply for dual citizenship, is a special process which can be followed to get this still ratified with Home Affairs.

Breathe A Sigh Of Relief

As an attorney, the only conclusion I can come to is that the writer of the previously mentioned article has confused a variety of South African legislation in coming to the conclusion that one must hand in their passports once moving abroad.

Saffas, I can confidently say that there is a legal and safe process to ensure that your foreign income stays yours, without losing any form of citizenship rights in South Africa, and thus keeping your SA passport safely in your pocket.

Author: Jonty Leon