Hi,

I have a question, my children under 18 are dual-citizens of the US and South Africa. They have US passports. May they enter South Africa with the US passport for a long term stay (much more than 90 days)? Or is it necessary to acquire South African passports as well?

This website appears to say it is only an offense if 18 years old:
Department of Home Affairs - Travel Documents

"Applicants should note that In terms of section 26(B) of the South African Citizenship Act, 1995, it is a punishable offence for a South African citizen of 18 years and older to leave or enter South Africa on a foreign passport."

I would like to confirm if it is acceptable for South African children under 18 to enter South Africa for a long term stay on a foreign passport?

Thanks!

If you are a South African citizen you MUST enter and depart South Africa on a South African passport. So your children will be breaking the law if they enter or depart South Africa on the their US passports.

 

Hi Jollem, thanks for the quick reply. Do you have an official source you could point me to, or how you came to this information? Thanks.

 

The usual rule of thumb goes something like this:

If one enters a country for which you do not have a passport, then that country need only admit you as a visitor... ... eg if one enters the US on any other passport other than a US passport and without any visa which would allow long term stay then, even if you are a US citizen (born of US parents, born in the USA, naturalised etc) but have no documentation to prove as such, the border official is under no obligation to allow you entry as anything but a visitor.

This usual rule applies to most countries.

Get your children their SA passport and save yourself problems at the border.

 

Hi. I concur. Once your children present non SA passports they will be treated as visitors/tourists even if they have SA birth certificates to prove their SA citizenship. The passports are fairly quick of late so like Crawford suggested just spare yourself the headache down the line. This should be an obvious matter, as in "doesn't really matter if they use US passports because they are citizens of SA" but trust me, as attested to by the forum, Home Affairs here seldom handles matters in a logical way.