Exploring the Interface Between Birth Registration and Citizenship Determination: A Scoping Study in Seven Countries in Southern Africa Lilongwe, Malawi. Photo Credit: hecke61 / Shutterstock.com In South Africa, the practice of separating the birth registration records of citizens and permanent residents from those of foreigners in different registers started with the integration of the civil registration system with the ID system, which also only hosts data of citizens and permanent residents.65 While this integration of civil registration with the ID system in South Africa may necessitated separate registers, this should not require denying children of “irregular migrants” access to civil registration services. Figure 2: ID cards from Namibia, South Africa and Malawi. A. Namibian citizen, Non-citizen, and Refugee ID card66; B South African ID card with the “Status” data element indicating citizen67; C: Malawi ID card showing nationality.68 24