Retention of South African Citizenship from within the UK

I am a South African national with ILR in the UK, and am planning on applying for UK citizenship later this year. I'd like to retain my SA citizenship, so I need to apply to the SAHC beforehand.

The SAHC website is surprisingly helpful: they have guidance on the process, and PDF versions of the BI-1664 (formerly DHA-1664) and BI-529 (formerly DHA-529) forms, although the BI-1664 is secured for some ridiculous reason, so I had to unlock it before I could fill out using Adobe Acrobat.

However, I find some of the guidance unclear.

• The SAHC website says "The following services are rendered strictly by post ... Retention of South African citizenship". Although the guidance says "NB: PLEASE APPLY BY POST" at the top, it would be clearer to say "ONLY POSTAL APPLICATIONS ARE ACCEPTED" and also remove phrases such as "in case of postal application", because that's the only option.
• The guidance doesn't say where the application must be posted to, so I'm assuming it's the same address provided on the SAHC website: South Africa House, 9 Duncannon Street, Trafalgar Square London, WC2N 5DP.
• "1. A valid South African passport plus 1 copy (in case of postal application, 2 certified copies must be sent)"
  Does this mean (a) passport + 2 certified copies, or (b) just 2 certified copies? Another post on this forum says it's (b) just 2 certified copies. I got my copies certified at the Post Office for £12.75.
• "3. Proof that foreign citizenship is not yet acquired"
  You need to submit Form NQ to get a Non-acquisition Letter, which costs £250. There are both PDF and online versions of the form; I submitted the latter.
• "5. FULLY COMPLETED means all questions of the two forms must be answered. Please do not answer “N/A”, it is not an answer to any of the questions."
  This left me wondering what to put for questions like "Maiden Name", because I don't have one. I must answer the form, but I'm not allowed to put "N/A" In the end, I decided to go with advice from the SAHC of Canada, "Do NOT to write “N/A” or draw lines through the form if the question does not apply, leave blank space." and just left those questions blank.
• "6. (BI-529) Part A: questions 9, 10 and 11 are mostly important for the applicant."
  So question 10 is particularly important, but I can't answer (a), (b), or (c) because I don't have foreign citizenship. I decided to leave these questions blank and write "NOT YET ACQUIRED - UK APPLICATION PENDING" in the blank space next to question 10. For (d), I circled "No" as instructed by the guidance.
• "10. Self-addressed special delivery envelope (with two large first class stamps) with all postal applications."
  I gather they want one of these:
  
  with two of these:
  
  I don't understand why they want two stamps when one would cover the postage of a large letter, by definition?

I would appreciate any clarification from those who have been through the process.

I'll update this thread with my experience as I progress.

I went to the post office today and they said I can't send a special delivery envelope using normal stamps, so now I'm stumped. Do I use a special delivery envelope with no stamps, or normal envelope with 2 stamps?

It's a pity user-mentions are disabled, because HelloWorld_21 seems to have done this just over a year ago and would probably know the answer.

RossJ wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 15, 2023 9:40 pm

I went to the post office today and they said I can't send a special delivery envelope using normal stamps, so now I'm stumped. Do I use a special delivery envelope with no stamps, or normal envelope with 2 stamps?

It's a pity user-mentions are disabled, because HelloWorld_21 seems to have done this just over a year ago and would probably know the answer.

Can't help you with the subject matter, however, as for the return envelope you buy a pre-paid one which will be more expensive than the two stamps .... about £8 pounds. Best to go to a main post office who will know what you need. They specifically mention special delivery which is not first class, it used to be called registered but now is more like a guaranteed express service.
Info for bulk packs of these envelopes - if you show this at the Post Office they should be able to supply one: https://shop.royalmail.com/postage-and- ... guaranteed

Not sure whether this helps, a thread under "British Citizenship": british-citizenship/non-acquisition-for ... 36127.html

Thanks, alterhase58. That's helpful. I'll ask again at the Post Office with that info.

I've seen the thread british-citizenship/non-acquisition-for ... 36127.html before, and it's the same topic but doesn't have much detail.

I received my letter of non-acquisition today, so that's 6 work days after submitting the application online.