The Constitution gives many rights to ‘everyone’, but keeps certain rights for citizens only. If you are a citizen of South Africa you have the right to:

• vote
• stand as a candidate in elections
• live in any area in South Africa
• choose your trade, occupation or profession
• be given a South African passport for travel to other countries
• come into South Africa even if you have lived somewhere else for a long time

None of these rights apply to people who are not South African citizens, even if they have lived legally in this country for very many years until they become South African citizens. The government can pass laws which give certain rights to non- citizens but government can also pass a law which takes the vote away from them.

People who are not citizens must have permission to enter South Africa. If they want to stay, they must get a permit to live here.

South African citizenship and immigration legislation is very complicated, so this chapter only presents an outline of the laws. It definitely does not cover everything in our Citizenship Act nor the Immigration Act, or the laws that came before them. It is written to help you to know what kind of documents an advice seeker may need to collect before going to a lawyer, and so that you know what you need to cover in any letter to a lawyer asking for assistance.