The demand for second citizenship schemes among HNWI in South Africa increased by 125% according to Henley and Partners.
Many south african families want freedom of movement and want to give their children the best education abroad through second citizenship
According to Henley,
- 53% increase in applications for foreign citizenship in the second half of 2018. There was a 364% spike in inquiries in October 2018 over the same month in 2017.
- Those inquiring about second passports, 85% were male, and 70% were aged between 45 and 64.
- Three-quarters of the inquiries came from Gauteng and Western Cape, split almost equally between the two provinces.
- Only 45% of the inquiries were from whites. Non-whites now make up the majority of high net worth individuals.
Since South Africa permits dual citizenship, many would like to keep their South African passports – maintaining a direct link to family and home – while taking advantage of the benefits of living and working abroad.
The Residency schemes from Portugal and Greece are popular in South africa along with citizenship schemes offered by Malta and Cyprus according to Henley.
The South African embassy provides instructions for dual citizenship holders.
The South African Citizenship Act provides for retention of South African citizenship PRIOR to the acquisition of a foreign citizenship. A condition of obtaining dual citizenship for all South African citizens aged 18 years or older is that they must apply and be granted permission to retain their South African citizenship prior to the acquisition of a foreign citizenship.
It is an offence for a South African citizen with dual citizenship to enter or depart the Republic of South Africa making use of the passport of another country. Once a person has been granted dual citizenship, the holder must always enter and depart South Africa on their valid South African passport.
In 2019 Henley rankings, South African passport ranked 53rd powerful passport in the world with visa free access to only 101 countries.
Among the CBI programs offered by Caribbean countries, only Antigua passport has visa free travel to South Africa.
A number of south africans have applied for golden visas and citizenship by investment schemes
- Portugal – 276
- Antigua – 6 (applications received)
- St Lucia – 2
- UK – 38 tier1 investors
- Latvia – 12
There are currently 12 Citizenship by investment programs and 22 golden visa schemes to choose for South African HNW families.
The minimum for citizenship starts from $100K while for golden visa schemes range from €250K starting with Greece.
