Citizenship question

colind - i don't know whether RianSA could apply right now - I had to be married for 5 years before I could submit my application - a new law came into effect a couple of years ago.

RianSA - you make me laugh I always used to have these questions in my head first with my husband naturalising to the uk and now me with my processes with home affairs - all i can say is the less you have to visit them the better ;-)

I am having nightmares already about dealing with Home Affairs when the time comes. I've been so lucky my past half dozen interactions with them. But I believe the horseshoe will fall out of my a#$ soon.

I could apply for perm res now, but it would be a long process which may or not be fruitful. I'm gonna apply for perm res when my bf and I get engaged as that will support my case. According to the infamous home Affairs website, the 5 year wait between perm res and citizenship can be cut to 2 if the person is married to a South African (but we all know how wrong the website is).

Nothing for little ol' me will be happening until I'm engaged. Then and only then will I start actively pursuing this.

I'm actually really keen to get a south african id book as I hate having to produce passport everytime official identification is required.

but RianSA i had to be married for 5 years before I could get my interview to apply for permanent residence. and i now have to wait 2 years for it to be processed so i won't get mine until 2009.

and there is NOTHING on the home affairs website permanent residence pages that state this rule, but it is the case. they still have a processing time of 30 days for permanent residence and this hasn't been the case for years!!!!when we came back last year i'd been married 4.5 years and i was not allowed to apply. i don't know about life partner or fiancee but i'm sure that the 5 years rule will still apply in some form!

next time you HAVE to go to home affairs i would ask them - actually the lady that interviewed us at CT office was really nice. she asked us "how did you meet" "when did you get married" etc

keep that horseshoe in place and you'll be fine - yes i know what you mean about id books - i'm not allowed a second card on my husband's credit card because i don't have an id.

There is another option: (personally I would never recommend that anybody ever break the law, but) the SAfrican requirement for SAfricans to use their SAfrican passports when entering or leaving SAfrica is only a recommendation! ...a friend seems to only have SAfrican entry and exit stamps in her SAfrican passport! Evidently noone has ever asked where she disappears to or appears from!
Ndlovu

Standard practice for dual nationals when travelling: Keep one passport in one pocket and the other in the other.

When arriving/leaving country X, hand immigration country X passport.
When arriving/leaving country Y, hand immigration country Y passport.

Both passports should preferably be in the same identity.