We have had a number of clients enquiring about obtaining South African naturalisation certificates from the early 1900s through to the 1970s for their parents and grandparents as part of ancestral research or for applications for “citizenship by descent”. Usually, the need arises from some sort of ancestral visa application requirement or similar purpose.
Clients are at their wits end – they have been to Home Affairs and attempted to find the documentation through various means (often online websites), but in the end, the document simply isn’t available. Often one can find ancient scans on ancestry websites, but these, even when printed out, are not valid for citizenship applications. As for Home Affairs: South Africa has not kept its paper records very well archived, nor spent much time or money digitising them.
As mentioned, many of these clients need these documents for ancestral research and documentation. Although we cannot assist you with applying for new naturalisation certificates, we can assist you with Ancestral Services and attempt to help you find the documents you need to obtain naturalisation certificates for your foreign family members.
Understanding naturalisation
South African naturalisation certificates grant citizenship to persons who came to South Africa from abroad and stayed in the country for a set period. According to the eight amendment act of the Regulations in terms of the South African Citizenship Act (1995) that came into effect on 1 April 2003, a person must have been a permanent resident in South Africa for at least five years in order to qualify for naturalisation.
Apostil.co.za can not assist clients with new applications for South African citizenship via naturalisation. We can, however, assist our clients with gathering all the supporting documents that might be required in order to obtain a copy of the naturalisation certificate in the event that it was lost.
In the majority of cases, our clients need assistance with obtaining copies of naturalisation documents in order to verify ancestral citizenship. A client that had a German grandfather, for example, might need this document to prove to authorities that their grandfather held German citizenship prior to obtaining South African citizenship via naturalisation.
Ancestral Services to help you with obtaining naturalisation certificates
In order for us to assist you with finding copies of naturalisation documentation, you will need to supply us with the following:
- Name, date of birth and ID number (if available) of the person in question.
- Date of naturalisation and Naturalisation Entry Number (if you do not have this, we can obtain it with our ancestral research services)
- Proof of identification of the person in question
Attempting to obtain naturalisation certificates of South African citizenship in your personal capacity can be frustrating and time-consuming. Apostil.co.za are document experts that specialise in South African documentation. We can help you obtain these official documents in the shortest time possible time.
Here at Apostil.co.za, we work directly with the Department of Home Affairs and can assist our clients with Ancestral Services. If you need assistance in the matter, be sure to contact us so we can provide you with a quotation and estimated turnaround time.