5.1.2 People born abroad to South African citizens Persons born abroad to South African nationals are entitled to South African citizenship by birth under section 2(1)(b) of the Citizenship Act.108 A child of a South African citizen may apply for birth registration with the South African authorities within South Africa or in the country of their birth. Section 13 of the Births and Deaths Registration Act states: If a child of a father or a mother who is a South African citizen is born outside the Republic, notice of birth may be given to the head of a South African diplomatic or consular mission, or a regional representative in the Republic. Regulation 11 states that: A notice of birth given for a child born of South African citizens outside the Republic as contemplated in section 13 of the Act shall be … accompanied by … an unabridged birth certificate or other similar document issued by the relevant authority in the country where the birth occurred. However, some children who are born abroad are turned away from local Department of Home Affairs’ offices on the advice that they may only register their birth at the South African consulate in their country of birth. This becomes problematic in instances where there is no consular presence in that territory or where the child is unable to return to the birth country. Some of these children are told to return to the country of their birth and apply for a passport from that country in order to register their births in South Africa. There is no provision which requires this. It is also practice at the local offices to ask the applicant to obtain confirmation of the authenticity if the birth certificate from the country of birth. This is not required by the BDRA or regulations and is the responsibility of the office of application. Given that a birth certificate ‘issued by the relevant authority in the country in which the birth occurred’ is a prerequisite to birth registration for children born abroad to citizens, access to citizenship for those born abroad is dependent on the functionality and ease of access to the birth registration system in the country of birth. As an attorney, your first consideration is whether you can assist the client to access a birth certificate from the country of birth. Contact the foreign mission in question and find out what is required and whether the mission assists with birth registration. If it is not possible to obtain a birth certificate, consider the following. 108 Under the law in place prior to January 2013, such persons were categorised as ‘citizens by descent.’ It is unclear if the amendments will be enforced retroactively, such that people born before January 2013 to citizens abroad are now citizens by birth rather than by descent. See section 3.2.2 above. 64 Promoting citizenship and preventing statelessness in South Africa: A practitioner’s guide