South African Nationality through Residency (Naturalisation)
A South African passport is granted if an applicant has been a Permanent Resident for a continuous period of 4 years in South Africa.
South African naturalisation is the process through which permanent residents (that is, candidates who began with a South African visa for business, a work permit or one of the other temporary South Africa immigration services) can complete the process of becoming a full citizen.
Where candidates of neither South African birth nor descent wish to apply, the following conditions must be satisfied.
- Applicants who wish to naturalise must be over the age of 21
- Applicants must have a grant of permanent residency in South Africa and must have lived in the country for a minimum of five years. Of the five, one year must be the year directly preceding the application, and the remaining four years of residency must have been conducted within the last eight years as a whole
- In cases of spouse immigration, where the husband or wife of an existing citizen is migrating to South Africa, the above requirement can be shortened to two years
- Applicants must have a solid grasp of one of the eleven official languages of South Africa; these are - Afrikaans, English, Southern Ndebele, Northern Sotho, Sotho, Swati, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, Xhosa and Zulu
- Applicants who immigrate to South Africa and pursue a grant of citizenship must be considered to be of good character.