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Court orders Home Affairs to strike out 10-year wait for citizenship

Source: Cape Talk, 08/06/2018

The court has ordered the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) to grant a
stateless family`s citizenship after almost 10 years of back and forth
with the department.
The department has also been ordered to review legislation that
requires immigrants to wait 10 years before citizenship is granted.
The Mulowayi family entered South Africa in 2002 seeking asylum, and
later refugee status, explains immigration lawyer Stefanie de
Saude-Darbandi.
After their refugee status was granted, they were granted South
African permanent residence by DHA.
Five years after being permanent residents, they applied for SA
citizenship.
They were instructed to first renounce their DRC citizenship, and then
Home Affairs refused them SA citizenship after they did so.
Florette Mulowayi and her husband Nsongoni then had a baby son who was
effectively stateless because his parents weren`t SA citizens and had
renounced their DRC citizenship.
The High Court in Cape Town has set aside the DHA`s decision to refuse
the family`s application for citizenship.
The department now has two months to rectify the citizenship status of
the family and review the regulation for citizenship status.
All three of them were effectively stateless.
They waited five years as permanent residents in order to apply for SA
citizenship based on information they received from Home Affairs. They
were following instructions and advice from officials.
They went to the Embassy and renounced their citizenship, and Home
Affairs came back to them and refused the application on the basis
that they had to wait another five years.

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