South African Citizenship Retention Letters After the Court Ruling – What Has Changed?
The Constitutional Court Ruling Explained In May 2025 , the Constitutional Court of South Africa ruled that Section 6(1)(a) of the Citizenship Act was unconstitutional from the beginning. This section previously caused thousands of South Africans to lose their citizenship automatically when they naturalised abroad without first applying for retention. With the judgment, anyone who fell under that rule is now legally considered to have never lost their South African citizenship . Retention Letters: Do You Still Need Them? From a legal perspective , the court’s decision makes retention letters unnecessary. In theory, South Africans can now take on another nationality without applying for permission to retain their SA citizenship. However, the practical reality is different . The Department of Home Affairs and many South African missions abroad still rely on outdated systems. Without a retention letter, your file might be incorrectly marked as “citizenship lost,” which can: ...