Great news for thousands of South Africans stripped of their citizenship without knowing
The Department of Home Affairs has launched the second and final phase of its online citizenship reinstatement portal, allowing South Africans to reclaim their citizenship within hours.
The portal was launched in late 2025 in response to a May 2025 Constitutional Court order affirming findings by the lower courts that South Africa’s citizenship laws had major problems.
The order specifically relates to section 6(1) of the Citizenship Act, which provided that South Africans automatically lose their citizenship if they voluntarily acquire citizenship of another country.
Before the ruling, those who wanted to retain their South African citizenship under those circumstances would have needed to apply directly to the Minister of Home Affairs, asking permission.
However, thousands of South Africans who emigrated or took up citizenship in another country had no idea that this was a requirement, and subsequently lost their South African citizenship without knowing.
The ConCourt and lower courts found that the existence of these laws directly contradicted rights enshrined in Section 20 of the Constitution, which states that no South African may be stripped of their South African citizenship.
The courts also found that removing the right to citizenship would also violate other rights enshrined in the Constitution, including the right to vote, the right to reside in South Africa, the right to stand for public office and the right to choose any occupation.
To rectify the problem caused by the laws, the DHA launched a portal for any South Africans affected to reclaim and reinstate their citizenship.
Minister of Home Affairs, Dr Leon Schreiber, launched the first phase of the portal in November 2025.
Cutting down waiting times
The first phase offered a secure, paperless online system for South Africans to confirm the reinstatement of their citizenship from anywhere in the world, without filling out a single form or standing in any queues.
The DHA said that over 12,008 people checked their status, and 1,088 successfully had their citizenship reinstated under phase one of the project.
Under the second phase, the department is introducing real-time processing, which reduces turnaround times significantly.
“Citizenship Reinstatement Portal 2.0 now introduces real-time automated processing that reduces reinstatement turnaround times from six to eight weeks, to as little as one hour for qualifying applicants,” it said.
“Once a person is confirmed as a citizen through the portal, their record is automatically updated on the Population Register.”
The department said a person’s profile will change to “citizen” status immediately, and they will receive a real-time notification that they can then proceed to apply for a South African Passport or Smart ID without further waiting periods.
If citizenship cannot be verified immediately, the file is handed to a specialist who investigates the file and manages it to completion.
“The biometric verification technology we have rolled out for this portal…enables a user to securely take a selfie and scan their passport to remotely confirm their status without any human intervention, paperwork or delay,” Shreiber said.
He added that this provides a glimpse into the future of the DHA’s ‘Home Affairs @ Home’ vision, where the department is targeting a mass rollout of digital services that can be accessed remotely.
This would include access to critical documents, as well as handling processes like Smart ID and Passport applications and processing.
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