Cidadania por Nascimento — nascido dentro ou fora de RSA filho de um pai cidadão SA (s2(1)(b))
Cidadania em África do Sul
- Elegibilidade
- Uma pessoa nascida dentro ou fora da República é cidadão sul-africano por nascimento se, no momento do nascimento, pelo menos um dos pais era cidadão sul-africano (s2(1)(b) da Cidadania Act 88 of 1995). Esta é a principal rota baseada na descendência da África do Sul: desde que a Emenda 2010 entrou em vigor em 1 de Janeiro 2013, o nascimento no estrangeiro de um progenitor cidadão confere cidadania por nascimento (não mais 'por descendência'), e o Tribunal Constitucional de Chisuse (2020) confirmou que não é necessário registo de nascimento e que a regra se aplica às pessoas nascidas antes dessa data.
- Prazo
- Automatic by operation of law; no application processing window for the status itself.
- Renúncia
- Não exigida
Visão geral
A person born in or outside the Republic is a South African citizen by birth if, at the time of birth, at least one parent was a South African citizen (s2(1)(b) of the Citizenship Act 88 of 1995). This is South Africa's principal descent-based route: since the 2010 Amendment took effect on 1 January 2013, birth abroad to a citizen parent confers citizenship by birth (no longer 'by descent'), and the Constitutional Court in Chisuse (2020) confirmed that no birth registration is required and that the rule reaches persons born before that date.
Prazos
Timeline: automatic. Document burden: low. Required: none of residency/language/presence/renunciation.
Base jurídica
Primary statute: SA Citizenship Act 88 of 1995 s2(1)(b) (subst. Act 17/2010). Operative 1995-10-06–present. Authority: Department of Home Affairs (DHA).
Exceptions & edge cases
- DISCONFIRMATION (no pure jus soli post-2013): mere birth in the Republic does NOT confer citizenship. A SA-born child of non-citizen parents acquires citizenship only via a qualifying channel — s2(3) PR-parent-plus-lived-to-majority, the s2(2) statelessness safeguard, or the s4(3) deferred naturalisation claim at majority. The pre-2013 birth rules differed (era-split). - DISCONFIRMATION (no grandparent/generational ancestry route): South African citizenship transmits at the PARENT generation only — s2(1)(b) requires that 'one of his or her parents' be a citizen at the time of birth, and s3 requires adoption by a citizen. There is no statutory grandparent- or ancestor-based registration route beyond the parent generation. - Diplomatic-immunity children — CURRENT POSITION from the decoded post-2010 s2: the section as substituted by Act 17 of 2010 contains NO express diplomatic/consular carve-out. The reason is structural — post-2013 there is no pure jus soli to carve out from: birth in the Republic alone does not confer citizenship. A child born in RSA to foreign diplomats/officials therefore acquires SA citizenship only through the same qualifying channels as any other child of non-citizens — s2(1)(b) (a SA-citizen parent), s2(2) (statelessness safeguard, if the child has no other nationality/right), or s2(3) (parents admitted for permanent residence + lived-to-majority). Diplomats' children, who ordinarily hold their sending state's nationality, fall outside s2(1)-(3) on the facts, so an express exclusion is unnecessary. (The original 1995 Act's express diplomatic carve-out was dropped in the 2010 substitution; that earlier text is NOT primary-decoded here and is carried as context only.)
Cenários de exemplo
Os cenários de exemplo são exibidos em inglês.
Eligible — South African citizen by birth.
Citizen by birth under s2(1)(b): a person born in or outside the Republic to an SA-citizen parent at the time of birth is a citizen by birth. Chisuse [2020] ZACC 20 reads 'is born' as stative, reaching births before the 2013 commencement, and holds birth registration is NOT a precondition (para [68]). Place of birth and non-registration are irrelevant; DHA recognition is mandatory, a question of law not discretion (Chisuse [88]).
Eligible — citizen by birth, even for a birth decades before 2013.
s2(1)(b) confers citizenship by birth on anyone born outside the Republic to an SA-citizen parent at birth, whenever born. In Chisuse the Court declared citizens persons born abroad as far back as 1969 (Amanda Tilma, b. 1969 Zimbabwe), holding four of the five old 'by descent' classes are now citizens by birth (para [81]). No registration gate applies.
Eligible — citizen by birth (straightforward post-2013).
Post-2010 the born-abroad biological child of a citizen parent is a citizen BY BIRTH under s2(1)(b), not by descent; the only operative fact is that one parent was an SA citizen at the time of birth (Chisuse [60]). South Africa permits dual citizenship for citizens by birth, so her concurrent British nationality is no bar.
Not eligible — there is no grandparent/ancestral route.
s2(1)(b) transmits citizenship by birth only through a parent ('one of his or her parents'), parent-generation only; there is no grandparent or remoter-ancestor pathway, and s3 'descent' is adoption-only. With no SA-citizen parent and no qualifying adoption, Pieter cannot claim under any acquisition route on the grandparent link alone.
Not eligible under this route — no pure jus soli.
s2(1)(b) is jus sanguinis (parental); post-2013 there is no pure jus soli, so mere birth on RSA soil confers nothing. The child is Portuguese (not stateless, so the s2(2) safeguard fails) and her parents are visitors not PR holders (so s2(3) is unavailable).
Eligible — citizen by birth (parent deemed never to have lost citizenship); confirmatory determination advised.
Because s6(1)(a) is void retroactive to 6 October 1995 (ZACC 8/2025), the mother is deemed never to have lost SA citizenship, so she WAS an SA citizen 'at the time of birth' in 2011, satisfying s2(1)(b) for Lerato. The derivative child's claim combines the deeming with s2(1)(b) but was not expressly adjudicated; a confirmatory s15 determination is advisable.
Resumo informativo compilado a partir de fontes legais primárias — não é aconselhamento jurídico. A lei de cidadania muda; verifique com a autoridade competente antes de agir. Verificado pela última vez em 2026-07-01.
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