In line with its digital transformation aspirations, the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) has rolled out an online portal for citizenship reinstatement.
The DHA is the custodian of identity management, civil status and migration of citizens.
Its newly-unveiled system – the Home Affairs Citizenship Reinstatement Portal – allows the public to check their citizenship status and determine if they are eligible to apply for confirmation of reinstatement.
The move follows the 6 May Constitutional Court judgementthat declared Section 6(1)(a) of the South African Citizenship Act, 1995, unconstitutional. The provision in the Act caused South African citizens to lose their citizenship automatically, if they acquired citizenship in another country without prior permission from the minister.
The judgement, which took immediate effect, confirmed the earlier Supreme Court of Appeal ruling and restored South African citizenship to all individuals who had lost it under this provision since 6 October 1995.
Resultantly, the DHA says its portal aims to help affected South Africans, particularly those living abroad, verify and confirm their status and, where necessary, complete any remaining steps for the department to administratively process their citizenship.
DHA minister Dr Leon Schreiber explains: “In keeping with our commitment to use digital transformation to deliver Home Affairs @ home, this process involves no queues and no paperwork whatsoever. Instead, it uses facial recognition and machine learning to verify your identity and securely correct your record on the population register − all from the comfort of your own home, anywhere in the world, instantly.
“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.”
The DHA notes that after creating a profile and confirming their e-mail, 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. If it was previously revoked under the now invalidated Section 6(1)(a), the portal will guide applicants through a simple process to confirm their details and submit their reinstatement.”
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