Moving Back to South Africa: Passports, Foreign Partners and Children Born Abroad
South Africans must enter and leave on a South African passport, and Home Affairs penalises entry on a foreign one. A child born abroad is a citizen by descent if a parent was a citizen at the birth and the birth was registered. A foreign partner applies for a visa of their own, and tax residence restarts once the SARS tests are met.
Coming home involves three sets of paperwork that run side by side: yours, your children's and your partner's. This guide signposts each one from the official pages and stops short of advice on tax, pensions or money, which depends on your own facts.
Your passport and ID
Home Affairs is blunt on this point: a South African living or working abroad must enter and leave the country on a South African passport. Its FAQs say that entering on a foreign passport is penalised, even where the South African one expired years ago, and that proof of a passport application is not accepted in its place. Look at the expiry date well before you book flights.
If the passport is lost, stolen or otherwise unavailable and you have to travel urgently, you can apply for an Emergency Travel Certificate at the nearest mission. Home Affairs gives three to five working days as the standard issue time, reserves the certificate for emergencies and says it allows entry only. Once you are in South Africa you apply for a passport to leave again.
For a passport applied for inside the country, Home Affairs gives 13 working days for an adult and 18 for a minor, and encourages returning citizens to apply as soon as they arrive. You need a South African ID to apply or, for a child, a birth certificate. To check an identity number, Home Affairs points to its Confirmation of Citizenship portal.
Home Affairs also runs service centres abroad as an interim measure for passport applications, renewals and birth certificate applications. Children aged 16 and over cannot yet have a passport processed there, and that includes children turning 16 in the relevant year, because they need an identity document first. Citizens born abroad whose births are not yet registered cannot use the centres at all, so those births are registered at the nearest embassy or consulate.
If you took another nationality and believe you lost your citizenship
Home Affairs says the Constitutional Court declared section 6(1)(a) of the 1995 Citizenship Act invalid from 6 October 1995. That section had cost South Africans their citizenship automatically when they took another nationality without ministerial consent, and anyone who lost it that way is now treated as having kept it. The ruling does not reach people who voluntarily renounced, or who lost citizenship through conversion before that date. Home Affairs runs an online reinstatement check that works from abroad with a foreign passport, quotes 8 to 10 weeks to review an application and says reinstatement does not itself give you a passport.
Children born abroad
The Citizenship Act sets the rule. In the text published on gov.za, a person born outside South Africa on or after the Act's commencement is a citizen by descent if one parent was a South African citizen at the time of the birth and the birth is registered under section 13 of the Births and Deaths Registration Act, 1992. That is the 1995 wording, and the Act was later amended by Act 17 of 2010, so confirm the current position with Home Affairs before relying on it.
Registration comes first. Home Affairs says a birth must be registered within 30 days, at the nearest Home Affairs office or, if you are abroad, the nearest South African embassy or consulate. After 30 days it counts as late registration with extra requirements, in three bands: 31 days up to a year, one year up to 14 years, and 15 years and above. The first certificate is free. A re-issue costs R75 for the unabridged version and R20 for the abridged one (Home Affairs, checked 17 October 2026), and gov.za says the unabridged certificate is the one you need to travel out of the country with a child.
For a child who was never registered as a citizen, Home Affairs says the family can apply for foreign birth registration at the mission or a local office. Until then a child holding only a foreign passport may travel to South Africa, but the visa rules for that passport apply. A child who is a dual citizen needs a valid South African passport to enter.
Travelling with children brings its own paperwork. Under the Home Affairs advisory (revised November 2019), South African children travelling on South African passports may enter without a birth certificate, and parental consent is required from the parents named on the birth certificate. Check the full table for a child travelling with one parent or with someone else.
A foreign partner: the visa routes
A partner who is not a South African citizen applies for a visa of their own. Three routes are open to the spouse of a citizen, and the Home Affairs turnaround page gives the targets below. They are in working days and apply to applications lodged inside South Africa for the Head Office, so a mission abroad can differ.
| Route | What Home Affairs says | Target |
|---|---|---|
| Relative's visa (section 18) | For the immediate family of a citizen or permanent resident. It lists a marriage certificate for a spouse and a full birth certificate for a child, plus a police clearance for each country lived in for 12 months or longer since the age of 18. The fee, the onward-ticket deposit and the proof of a minimum monthly amount for living expenses do not apply to a spouse or dependent minor child. The holder may not work, and the visa is issued for at most two years at a time | 120 working days |
| Visitor's visa (section 11(6)) | The Immigration Act allows a visitor's visa for the spouse of a citizen or permanent resident who does not qualify for a work, study or similar visa. It lasts only while the good faith spousal relationship exists, and the holder can apply to be authorised to work or study. The spousal and life partner guide walks through it | 120 working days |
| Permanent residence as spouse or dependant (section 26) | Covered in the permanent residence guide | 240 working days |
The relative's visa page still lists medical and radiology reports. Home Affairs gazetted a waiver of the medical report for visa applications on 17 July 2026 (Ministerial Immigration Directive 10 of 2026), so ask your lodging centre what it expects. A marriage certificate from another country may need an apostille or a sworn translation, and the visa documents guide sets out who legalises what and in which order. A partner who later wants citizenship will find the next step in the naturalisation guide.
Get the full 2026 relocation guide
30+ pages: visas, neighbourhoods, schools, healthcare, money and safety. Free.
Tax residence on re-entry
SARS treats you as a South African tax resident if you are ordinarily resident, or if you pass the physical presence test: more than 91 days in South Africa in the tax year, more than 91 days in each of the five preceding tax years, and more than 915 days across those five years. Ordinarily resident is a common law idea: South Africa is the country you naturally return to after time away. Someone who meets the physical presence test but spends 330 continuous full days abroad stops being resident from the day they left.
When you come back, SARS says reinstatement happens when you again meet the requirements for residency. You tell SARS through the RAV01 form on eFiling, entering the reinstatement date under the Income Tax Liability Details section. The individual makes the declaration once they are in South Africa, and SARS says no supporting documents are needed (SARS page last updated 27 June 2025).
Which date applies depends on your own facts, so confirm it with SARS or a registered tax practitioner. The expat tax guide explains the residence tests and the 183-day rule, and the financial emigration guide separates the SARS and SARB sides of leaving. Pensions and retirement savings held abroad are outside this guide: the rules differ by country and by scheme, so take regulated advice before you move, cash in or change anything.
Banking on return
Exchange control and tax residence are handled by different bodies. The Reserve Bank says all exchange control matters go through an Authorised Dealer, which is a registered bank authorised to deal in foreign exchange, and that its Financial Surveillance Department only accepts requests that an Authorised Dealer submits for a client.
The bank account guide is written for foreigners, so a returning citizen should ask the bank which of its points apply. Moving money across the border is covered in the guide to transfers and forex. For the weeks after you land, the first 30 and 90 days puts the practical steps in order.
Coming home with a partner or children who are new to the country? The Expat Club is for anyone settling in South Africa, returning South Africans and their families included. Nothing is charged at this stage. Sign up for a free profile at expatclub.co.za/members, confirm your email, and you can use the member directory and send messages. Cape Town hosts the first meeting in January 2027, and Johannesburg and Durban should follow around mid 2027.
Frequently asked questions
Can a South African citizen enter South Africa on a foreign passport?
Home Affairs says South Africans living or working abroad must enter and leave the country on a South African passport, and that those who enter on a foreign one are penalised, even where the South African passport expired years ago. If you have no valid passport and must travel urgently, you can apply for an Emergency Travel Certificate at a mission. It allows entry only, so you apply for a passport once you are in South Africa to leave again.
Is my child born abroad a South African citizen?
As gazetted in 1995, the Citizenship Act makes a child born outside South Africa a citizen by descent if one parent was a South African citizen at the time of the birth and the birth is registered under section 13 of the Births and Deaths Registration Act. Home Affairs says births should be registered within 30 days, at the nearest embassy or consulate if you are abroad, and that late registration has extra requirements. The Act was amended in 2010, so confirm the current position with Home Affairs.
Does my foreign partner need a visa if I am a South African citizen?
Yes, a partner who is not a citizen applies for a visa of their own. Home Affairs lists a relative's visa for the immediate family of a citizen or permanent resident, with a marriage certificate for a spouse. The Immigration Act also allows a visitor's visa under section 11(6) for the spouse of a citizen, which stays valid only while the good faith spousal relationship exists. Read the Home Affairs checklist for the route you choose.
When does my South African tax residence start again?
SARS says you are reinstated as a tax resident when you again meet the requirements, which means being ordinarily resident or passing the physical presence test of more than 91 days in the tax year, more than 91 days in each of the five preceding years and more than 915 days across those five years. You declare the date on the RAV01 on eFiling once you are in South Africa, and SARS says no supporting documents are needed. Which date applies to you depends on your own facts, so confirm with SARS or a registered tax practitioner.
Sources, checked 17 October 2026
We took the details on this page from the official sources listed here, opening each one on 17 October 2026.
- Citizenship reinstatement FAQs (Department of Home Affairs): the passport rule on entry, the Emergency Travel Certificate, passport targets in South Africa, minors, foreign birth registration and the reinstatement ruling.
- DHA service centres abroad (Department of Home Affairs): what the interim centres offer and who cannot use them.
- Birth certificates and registration (Department of Home Affairs): the 30 day rule, registration abroad, late registration bands and the R75 and R20 re-issue fees.
- Travel requirements for children (Department of Home Affairs): the November 2019 advisory on documents and parental consent.
- Types of visas (Department of Home Affairs): the relative's visa checklist.
- Immigration Act 13 of 2002, as updated to 2015 (Department of Home Affairs): section 11(6) on the visitor's visa for a spouse. This copy predates later amendments.
- Notice on Ministerial Immigration Directive 10 of 2026 (Department of Home Affairs): the waiver of the medical report.
- Turnaround times for visas and permits (Department of Home Affairs): the 120 and 240 working day targets, and the Head Office basis.
- Register a birth (South African Government): registering abroad and the unabridged certificate for travel with a child.
- Apply for a passport or travel document (South African Government): the ID or birth certificate needed to apply.
- South African Citizenship Act 88 of 1995 (South African Government): the Act's page, including the 2010 amendment.
- Citizenship Act as gazetted, Government Gazette 16751 of 6 October 1995 (South African Government): the original text of section 3 on citizenship by descent.
- Tax and non-residents (South African Revenue Service): the ordinarily resident and physical presence tests.
- Cease to be an SA tax resident and reinstatement (South African Revenue Service): the 330 day rule and how to declare reinstatement on the RAV01.
- Financial Surveillance FAQ (South African Reserve Bank): Authorised Dealers and the two to four week processing time.
General information only, not immigration/tax/legal/financial advice: confirm current rules and consult a qualified professional.