Renewal of South African passports

[campbel 0]

Thanks for the reply's . We did not apply for dual citizenship we just applied for Canadian citizenship.Questions as we are now Canadians have we lost our SA citizenship ? . Can we use our Canadian passports to enter SA . My question when they look at them it will say place of birth Cape Town Will that be a red flag and we will be told we must have SA passports to enter .If we wanted to renew SA passports can we

THANKS

Campbel

[patche 2]

[You have to formally renounce SA citizenship in order to lose it - but...I have (supposedly!) dual citizenship - travelled to SA a month ago on my canadian passport - (no valid SA passport anymore). Got it stamped at customs as a visitor to SA - no questions asked, only told (on the stamp) that I have only four months to visit SA....Planning on going back with the whole family in December - on Canadian passports. Not planning on staying four months anyway....

[Rolé 1]

Since you don't have dual citizenship, just use your Canadian passports. They wouldn't allow you to apply for a SA passport anyway without proof of dual citizenship. They ask those questions on the forms.

[Island Life 1]

Got it stamped at customs as a visitor to SA - no questions asked, only told (on the stamp) that I have only four months to visit SA

That is exactly my experience as well. One of my children's SA passports had expired and we used their other passport (Irish) and there was no problem. No questions asked why we have a mix of passports or anything like that. Just took longer because they put a sticker into the passport and spend a whole lot of time typing stuff into the computer, and then still after all of that scanning the barcode.

[campbel 0]

I thought if you were a SA Citizen you had to come in and out of SA on your SA passport Am I reading that part right or not. If we wanted to renew SA passports can we ? as we applied for Canadian citizenship without telling SA? what we were doing

[Rolé 1]

Read here on the South African High Commission website. It says you lose your South African citizenship if you aquire the citizenship of another country. You can keep your SA citizenship, but you have to apply for it before you apply for another country's citizenship. You can find info on dual citizenhip here.

You may also renounce your SA citizenship, but it doesn't seem to be required.

[Rolé 1]

This website gives the same information. Just scroll a bit down the page.

[campbel 0]

Exemption in Terms of Section 26(4). Exemption from the loss of South African citizenship.

South African citizens who lost their South African citizenship through formal acquisition of another citizenship whilst no longer a minor and without applying for retention prior to becoming a citizen of another country, may apply for exemption from the loss of their South African citizenship as long as they have acquired the other citizenship before October 1995.

Reading this I'm no longer a SA citizen so using a Canadian passport for visits to SA is fine .If I want to regain SA citizenship I fill out a form?

only thing confusing before October 1995? does this mean I have to be in SA to apply for citizenship

[Heinrich 8]

...as long as they have acquired the other citizenship before October 1995.

They can only get the exemption if they have acquired citizenship in the other country before October 1995.

Reading this I'm no longer a SA citizen so using a Canadian passport for visits to SA is fine .If I want to regain SA citizenship I fill out a form?

only thing confusing before October 1995? does this mean I have to be in SA to apply for citizenship

You will have to apply for Permanent Residence in South Africa, similar to the application you made to become a PR in Canada. I stand to be corrected, but that was my conclusion before I applied for our family's Canadian citizenship.

[Dedré 120]

I recall from a conversation that we have had with someone that one has to enter a country with the passport that you left with. Same flight same passport -type of situation.

Also I recall I read somewhere on the forum that if you are in SA with your SAcan passport and something happens in SA, the Canadian government can not help you get out. On that fact I need some help here. It does seem a bit cruel if you are a Canadian Citizen... Can someone please help?

[Harry 52]

Now what!?

I just put down the phone to honorary consul Chris Meyer in Vancouver

He is "no longer allowed" to take fingerprints.(whatever that is supposed to mean)

SO, where EXACTLY and PRECISELY do I go in North Vancouver or Vancouver to get this done.

Is there anyone who actually knows [a] for a fact AND from RECENT experience where one goes to:

[1] get one's document copies certified and

[2] get one's fingerprints taken

....if one lives in North Vancouver

Please , I'm at the end of my tether here and really do not need responses like

"downtown" or

"the police" or

"a notary public" or

a post from a government website.

I want to know WHAT HAS ACTUALLY WORKED....not theory or Web research.

If someone went to get their stuff certified by the RCMP, and it wroked, then I want to know WHICH EXACT OFFICE.

If someone went and got their fingerprints taken correctly by the RCMP, then I want to know WHICH EXACT OFFICE.

I spend my life on SACanada helping folks, but this time I'm asking and I need 100% clarity. We have been struggling for weeks to get our the process for new passports set up. We now need VIVID clarity with 100% certainty.

[jen1 0]

Harry

I am currently going through the same problem in Toronto. This is how I have done it out here...may or may not help you.

Fingerprints, I phoned the Ontario Provincial Police and they put me through to their department which does the fingerprints. They only work on mondays and you have to book an appt (I have previously used them for my passport - its my husbands now that we are doing) They only have 2 offices in Toronto that do this as far as I know.

Certifying documents...I emailed the SA High Commission and asked if I needed them notarized or signed by a Commissioner of Oaths. They emailed me back, and said I could do either, as well as having the copied documents signed by a Dr, police officer or lawyer. Anyway I have since found that my MPP is a commissioner of Oaths, and my Town Council offices also offer the service, so I am going there tomorrow to get them certified by a commissioner of oaths.

If I wanted to pay I could use http://redsealnotary.ca/ , but I really dont want to pay about $90 if I dont have to.

I know this is not the exact info you are after...but I figured if it does not help you, it may help someone else.

[natalieh 1]

Harry,

The RCMP at Cambie and Main takes fingerprints. It costs $25 for the first set and $5 for each additional set. I went to a Notary Public in Delta (I'm not sure if you want to come out this far) to have my documents certified and she was very good.

Edited April 7, 2008 by natalieh

[redeye 2]

Besides the RCMP, all "local" police have fingerprinting services for a fee. Calgary Police did mine on their own fingerprinting sheet, and the SA Consulate accepted it. The Vancouver Police Department also does this.

http://vancouver.ca/police/clearances/ottawa.htm

Fingerprint Service

Vancouver Police Department Fingerprinting Service:

If you require fingerprinting only and no local record search Vancouver Police can provide fingerprint service regardless of where you live.

Fee is:

$25.00 Cash or Interac

$5.00 For each additional set of prints

[Harry 52]

So we went to the International Fingerprinting Services office by the Vancouver Police DEprtment on Granville Street in Downtown Vancouver in sheer frustration:

$35 per set of fingerprints ( NOT $25....I repeat $35...THIRTY-FIVE)

Here is the link: http://www.policecheck.com/locations.html#ifsvan

HOWEVER, they cannot certify documents! So we left with a job half done.

Various people on this forum have suggested one's MLA. I did the MLA lookup and the thing gave me my Member of Parliament , Don Bell who phoned back a day later and said he cannot certify anything that is not Federal Canadian. Since I did not vote for him he has now lost his last use to me as best I can tell.

So I have gone full circle to a Notary Public and she CATEGORICALLY WANTS $20 per copy of document to certify a true copy....something the nearest snotkop poliesman does for free in SA. This is exactly where I was before.

SO I repeat, who has got certified copies of documents made on ths forum and got them done by a party OTHER THAN a bloodsucking money-grabbing Canadian Notary Public...

Jen1, did you get any results from your effort?

[jen1 0]

Hi Harry

Yes, I took them up to my Municipality offices and the Town Clerk there stamped them with the stamp that says..."I,.....Deputy Clerk of the town of Newmarket, Hereby certify this to be a true copy of the......... Date.... and then her signature..."

She also then stamped it with the raised embossing seal.

It looks very similar to how we had stuff certified back in SA.

My MPP could have done them the same way his secretary said, but since he is only in his office close to me here once every two weeks or so she suggested I try the town offices...and hey presto....

Last time I did some I paid a notary public and I agree....bunch of blood suckers there!

Good luck

[Oom.Dee 0]

SO I repeat, who has got certified copies of documents made on ths forum and got them done by a party OTHER THAN a bloodsucking money-grabbing Canadian Notary Public...

I got copies certified a few weeks ago by an Engineer, free of charge.

[jen1 0]

Harry, do you have any city or town offices nearby, cause if so its worth phoning around and seeing if they have a commissioner of oaths on their staff who can do this for you. Mine had a notice up saying that it was free for residents and $5 a document for non resident, but they never even bothered to check anything official to see if I was a resident, just took my word for it.

Also to mention I tried my MP and was told no, they could not do this, however it was eventually my MPP who was also a commissioner of oaths.

[Viv 0]

SO I repeat, who has got certified copies of documents made on ths forum and got them done by a party OTHER THAN a bloodsucking money-grabbing Canadian Notary Public...

Do you expect the Notary Public to work for free Harry? Certifying documents is part of their bread and butter.

[redeye 2]

^^^

Re notary publics doing stuff for free, we take all our documents for notarization to the lawyer that did the transfers for both our properties. He always does it with a smile; free of charge.

[Harry 52]

Jen,

I'll try the Municipal Offices idea.

There has to be a way of beating this allmighty digraceful ripoff.

I don't know what you mean by "MPP"...do you mean my Provincial MLA?

Viv,

"do I expect Notaries Public to WORK for free"...certainly NO!

I bought my house via a contract done by a notary public. That was fine in my book. That was honest work.

But your question presumes that WORK is involved.

Chubbing that piece op paper is not WORK...it is a farce and a racket.

Íf Notaries Public here do not have actual work, I can always explain to them what it is, so they can recognise it next time and add real value to the economy.

I need a simple Commissioner of Oaths.....fer cryin'out loud!

[Adele 16]

Harry,

Is this for South African Passports?

When we did our passports our family doctor, Dr. van Donkersgoed certifed our documents. When I did some other financial documents, we went to my daughter's school principal. He told us that the most important thing is that they have known the person they are certifying for two or more years.

Hope this helps.

[jen1 0]

MPP is the Member of Provincial Parliment..I had to look up what an MLA is and I found out they are one and the same, its just that they are call MPP's in Ontario? Who knows why its different here.

I hope you find something!

[jen1 0]

Also I have cut and pasted the exact email I got from Ottawa regarding this....as follows:

To your e-mail refers:

Copies of the original documents can be certified by a bank manager, a

police officer, a doctor, Commissioner of Oaths or a lawyer.

You should forward your passport applications to

South African High Commission

15 Sussex Drive

Ottawa, ON

K1M 1M8

Regards,

Alla Alifirova (Ms)

South African High Commission

Ottawa tel. 613 744 0330 ext. 7026

[Harry 52]

Thanks, Jen1 and Adele.

That's what I'm looking for