The Department of Home Affairs (DHA) is the bearer of good news for South Africans whose citizenship was unconstitutionally withdrawn: it has just launched the new Citizenship Reinstatement Portal, a first-of-its-kind online platform that allows affected individuals to verify and reinstate their South African citizenship through a simple digital process.

With the announcement on Monday 24 November 2025, the Minister of Home Affairs, Dr Leon Schreiber, made good on his commitment six months ago that the DHA will speedily develop a portal to assist all South Africans who lost their citizenship under the now-defunct Section 6(1)(a) of the South African Citizenship Act, 1995, to have it restored.

This follows a unanimous Constitutional Court judgment in May 2025 declaring the provision unconstitutional. The previously enforced section caused South Africans to automatically lose their citizenship if they acquired another nationality without first obtaining permission from the Minister.

The judgment confirmed the earlier Supreme Court of Appeal ruling and restored South African citizenship to all individuals affected under this provision since 6 October 1995. The Court held that stripping citizens of their nationality without sufficient cause was unconstitutional and affirmed that affected individuals are now deemed never to have lost their citizenship. 

Another Milestone Towards Delivering Home Affairs @ Home

The Home Affairs Citizenship Reinstatement Portal, which gives practical effect to the court ruling, is also a major step forward in the Department’s commitment to using digital transformation to deliver Home Affairs @ home. The platform is particularly beneficial for South Africans living abroad, enabling them to verify and confirm their status and, where necessary, complete the process of restoring their citizenship.

The process on myhomeaffairsonline.dha.gov.za avoids queues and paperwork altogether. Instead, it uses facial recognition and machine learning to verify the user’s identity and securely update their records on the population register – “all from the comfort of your own home, anywhere in the world, instantly,” the DHA said.

Schreiber added: “This not only ensures compliance with the Constitutional Court order but also positions Home Affairs at the global cutting-edge of biometric verification and machine learning technology to deliver digital public infrastructure. Very few countries offer digital citizenship services at this level of sophistication. Over time, the powerful underlying technology we have built for this portal will also enable us to deliver Digital ID, while enhancing immigration and citizenship law enforcement by eliminating reliance on paperwork and manual verification.”

Easy Step-by-Step Guide

South Africans abroad can begin the process by visiting myhomeaffairsonline.dha.gov.za. The website provides a step-by-step guide on how to apply: from registering to submitting. 

After creating a profile and confirming their email, users can verify their citizenship status using their ID number, complete biometric verification, and, where necessary, proceed with a confirmation of reinstatement application.

If citizenship remains valid, users will be notified immediately. 

The portal provides:

• Secure digital authentication
• Advanced document and biometric verification
• Integration with the National Population Register
• A user-friendly interface to track application progress
• Public Applause for ‘Long-Overdue’ Development

The Minister’s Instagram post announcing the portal drew celebratory emojis and messages of congratulations from South Africans at home and abroad.

Users praised the portal as “long overdue,” “life-changing,” and “proof that digital transformation is finally happening.”

Immigration experts also welcomed the development.

Jaco Brits, Head of Immigration at Xpatweb, says that after the Constitutional Court ruling clarified the legal position, the Department has now delivered on its promise by developing a platform to administratively process reinstatements.

He notes that the judgment does not apply to individuals who voluntarily renounced their South African citizenship, nor to those who lost their citizenship through conversion before 6 October 1995.

A 30-Year Problem Corrected; Expats Should Ensure Their Situation is Correct Too

Since 6 October 1995, section 6(1)(a) had resulted in South Africans automatically losing their citizenship upon obtaining another nationality unless they first applied for retention. Many only discovered their loss when applying for passports, IDs, or registering births abroad.

The Court found that this to be irrational, unconstitutional, and violating the right to citizenship. 

Many of the nearly 2-million South Africans residing abroad, may have been affected by this provision.

John-Paul Fraser, Team Lead: Cross-Border Taxation at Tax Consulting South Africa, urges South Africans who formally completed their financial emigration through the South African Revenue Service (SARS) to check whether their citizenship was unconstitutionally affected due to the defunct section in the act.

“It is often believed that officially emigrating requires you to give up your citizenship and identity as a South African, a very emotive issue. This is incorrect. Registering an official emigration with SARS and the SARB does not affect your South African citizenship but simply declares you a non-resident taxpayer for tax purposes locally. Until such time as you actively decide to relinquish your citizenship, you remain a South African citizen and retain the right to return whenever you choose,” explains Fraser.

Conclusion

Minister Schreiber reiterates that South African law allows for dual citizenship, and that there was no justification for South Africans to be deprived of their birth right in the manner that was previously done.

He concludes: “We have now addressed this by creating a pathway for South Africans affected to correct this wrong. At the same time, Home Affairs is building a digital service delivery revolution, storming into the future to transform South Africa into a world leader in smart government that delivers dignity for all.”

Written by Xpatweb