The South African Citizenship (Act No 88 of 1995) as amended extends the ability of naturalisation to individuals born in South Africa to parents who are not citizens or permanent residents, subject to having their birth registered and being resident in South Africa for 18 years. This means a foreign child born in South Africa will become eligible for citizenship upon turning 18, provided they can produce an unabridged birth certificate and have resided in South Africa for 18 years.7 With the proposed change in the current Draft Regulations that only a ‘confirmation of birth certificate’ will be issued to foreign children, this means that foreign children who qualify to apply for citizenship in terms of section 4(3) of the Citizenship Act will not be able to apply since they will not be in possession of a birth certificate. It is submitted that the current Draft Regulations do not align in this regard with the current framework. 2. Concerns regarding the creation of a ‘confirmation of birth certificate’ The Draft Regulations introduce a ‘confirmation of birth certificate’ which would be ‘issued to a nonSouth African citizen confirming that the birth of his or her child occurred within the Republic’. The confirmation of birth would ‘enable the holder thereof to approach the relevant authorities of his or her country of citizenship or nationality in order to register the birth of his or her child in his or her country of citizenship or nationality’s population register’.8 The application for a confirmation of birth certificate would be made via Annexure 4 and on a DHA-19 form. It is of great concern that the ‘confirmation of birth certificate’ document issued to children born to non-South Africans would not be a birth certificate, as stated on the DHA-19 form. In Draft Regulations 1, 7 and 8, the Draft Regulations now refer to ‘confirmation of birth’ instead of birth certificate. A ‘confirmation of birth certificate’ will result in foreign children not being issued with birth certificates in South Africa. This is of great concern as it cannot be used to access services, to prove nationality or access basic rights in South Africa. More specifically, refugee children will not be able to approach their embassy (as the Draft Regulations direct them to so do) due to the very nature of such citizenship or nationality; and (ii) his or her birth is registered in the Republic in accordance with the 40 Births and Deaths Registration Act, 1992 (Act No. 51 of 1992) 7 South African Citizenship Amendment Act (No. 17 of 2010), states at Section 4(3), ‘A child born in the Republic of parents who are not South African citizens or who have not been admitted into the Republic for permanent 30 residence, qualifies to apply for South African citizenship upon becoming a major if (a) he or she has lived in the Republic from the date of his or her birth to the date of becoming a major; and (b) his or her birth has been registered in accordance with the provisions 35 of the Births and Deaths Registration Act, 1992 (Act No. 51 of 1992).’ 8 As found in the Definitions of the Draft Regulations. 4