registration’ (a category that existed under the South African Citizenship Act 44 of 1949). Citizens by descent do not appear to receive a lesser standard of treatment than citizens by birth. This could be the reason Parliament decided to amend the Act and provide them with the same status. We would like to note, however, that two sections of the Citizenship Act explicitly state that those who were ‘citizens by birth' or 'by naturalisation’ ‘prior to the commencement’ of the Act remain as such after its commencement. The new provision granting citizenship by birth to citizens born abroad does not have a similar proviso. Furthermore, the South African Citizenship Act 44 of 1949 (the 1949 Citizenship Act) was repealed in its entirety and replaced by the 1995 Act. Thus, it is reasonable to conclude that the provisions granting nationality do not have temporal time constraints. If granting of nationality under the 1995 Citizenship Act did not apply retroactively, gaps between the two laws could result in confusion and statelessness. Another change to the Citizenship Act that occurred with the coming into force of the 2010 amendments in January 2013 is section 2(3): A child born in the country to permanent resident parents will not be a citizen upon birth, but only qualifies upon reaching the age of majority if they show that they have lived in the Republic until that time and their birth was registered. Furthermore and perhaps more significantly, the term ‘parents’ is used now, where previously that Act used the term 'one of his or her parents’ in relation to children of permanent residents. This indicates that now, both parents may be required to be permanent residents in order for a child to qualify for citizenship. Finally, the recently amended Act provides 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 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 of the Births and Deaths Registration Act, 1992 (Act No. 51 of 1992). This new provision will protect against statelessness if it is interpreted to allow children of irregular migrants to access naturalisation without needing to fulfil the ordinary requirements of naturalisation (which are often challenging for this group to fulfil given their parents’ irregular status). There is no regulation accompanying this provision to provide guidance, but the following commentary is a good indication that this provision will be applied in such fashion. 24 Promoting citizenship and preventing statelessness in South Africa: A practitioner’s guide