Children of refugees wanting SA citizenship will have to speak one official language

By Times Live

Children of refugees wanting South African citizenship will have to speak at least one official language.

This is according to the latest gazette released by home affairs minister Aaron Motsoaledi.

Motsoaledi gazetted new regulations under the South African Citizenship Act, which deal with naturalisation application, 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 South African official languages”, among others.

The gazette comes after Motsoaledi extended the Zimbabwean Exemption Permit 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 have been deployed to assist with application processing as about 1,000 to 1,500 visa and waiver applications are being made daily by affected Zimbabweans.

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

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

“The number of illegal foreigners in South Africa 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 comments very soon.

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of 2002, the South African Citizenship Act of 1995 and the Refugees Act of 1998, are obsolete and would be completely repealed.”