Children of refugees must know one official SA language to become citizens

Children of refugees wanting SA citizenship will have to speak at least one official language, according to the latest gazette released by home affairs minister Aaron Motsoaledi. 

Motsoaledi gazetted new regulations under the SA Citizenship Act, which deal with naturalisation applications, including applicants born to asylum seekers and refugees. An application form is included in the regulations.

According to the amendments, an application for citizenship must be accompanied by, in the case of an applicant born of an asylum seeker or refugee, an application form, a copy of proof of birth from a health facility, original copies of their parent’s asylum-seeker visa or refugee status, a school report or letter from the principal where the child is registered for grade 1, proof of residences since birth, biometrics and “proof of knowledge of one of the SA official languages”, among others.

The gazette comes after Motsoaledi extended the Zimbabwean Exemption Permit (ZEP), which would have expired at the end of June, to December 31.

This means Zimbabweans with the exemption permit can enter and leave the country provided they comply with all other requirements for crossing the border.

“No holder of exemption should be required to produce a valid exemption certificate/permit or an authorisation letter to remain in the republic when making an application for any category of the visas including temporary residence visa,” he said.

Motsoaledi said more home affairs officials had been deployed to assist with application processing as about 1,000 to 1,500 visa and waiver applications were being made daily by affected Zimbabweans.

In May, the government proposed the establishment of “specialised” courts to deal with immigration in SA. 

Speaking in parliament, the minister said his department was working on new legislation to address increasing immigration.

“The number of illegal foreigners in SA is very high,” said Motsoaledi. “The department of home affairs has completed its work on the immigration citizenship and refugee protection policy. This policy framework will be gazetted for public comment very soon.

“The three pieces of legislation, namely the Immigration Act of 2002, the SA Citizenship Act of 1995 and the Refugees Act of 1998, are obsolete and would be completely repealed.”

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