How to Get a Visa in Southern California

The procedure of obtaining a visa in southern California is the same as it is everywhere in the United States. After all, when it comes to receiving a visa to travel abroad, where you are is not as important as where you go. Requirements be different by country; research the entry requirements of your destination will make your trip planning easier and save you from unnecessary work, because many countries do not require U.S. citizens to have a visa if they are tourists and the planned visit is less than 90 days.

The U.S. State Department has a database on its website (travel.state.gov) with visa requirements for each country in the world, the U.S. embassy and consular offices, security information and medical conditions. Knowing the needs of the country is particularly important if you plan to enter the country as a tourist and plan to stay a while. The State Department's website includes a list of required vaccinations for each country as well.

You must have a valid U.S. passport. In general, your passport must be valid for the duration of your trip and have at least one or two blank pages. The exact requirements vary by country. For example, China requires that your passport does not expire for at least six months after your departure from China. Senegal requires that your passport be valid for three months after your departure from the country. In most cases, this is for your protection in case of unexpected and you have to stay longer in the country you are visiting.

Get a visa at the Embassy, Consulate or designated office in the country you are visiting. Most applications require you to provide your passport and a recent photo glued or stapled to the application. The specific information that must be included in the application includes your name, passport purpose of your stay and the duration of your stay.
Submit your application and the required fee, in agreement with the instructions of the embassies. Some embassies allow you to post requests for revision; others require that you submit your application in person.

Wait for your acceptance. Processing times vary embassies. The waiting time is as fast as four days for some countries or as long as two to four weeks for others.

Dual Citizenship South Africa

We frequently receive issues of South African passports seconds curious how it did, or did not complete their South African citizenship.Much confusion and different stories circulating on the Internet and South African ex pat communities whether South Africans are allowed dual citizenship and their correct to a passport second.

Much of this confusion stems from the regulations in the Citizenship Act of 1995, which stated: Withdrawal of citizenship based on nationality with another country.

The Minister may by order remove a citizen of South Africa South African nationality if he or she also has the citizenship or nationality of another country, and at any time made use of the franchise or facilities passport of that country or made some other voluntary act, to the approval of the Minister, indicates that this citizen has made use of the citizenship or nationality of that other country.

The understandable suggestion here is that the use of a second passport from a South African citizen would allow the Minister of the Interior to remove the rights of citizenship.

It is in some circles still widespread belief, but in fact, this part of the Act, which deals with dual citizenship and the use of another nationality / passport, a South African, was then revoked by the government.

The repeal of section 9, the government abolished the right of the Minister of the Interior to withdraw the status of South African citizen for having used the citizenship of a foreign country. In doing so, the previous requirements that would allow the use of a foreign passport, such as exemptions or letters of permission are no longer needed.

In other words, the citizens of South Africa can now use their foreign (second) while passports abroad.

However, that South African citizens should be aware that the decision came into force with the Citizenship Act Amendment of 2004. That an offense for an adult South African citizen to enter the Republic or derogate using the passport of another country. In addition to this, the South African citizen can not, while South Africa, using their foreign citizenship to gain an advantage or avoid a responsibility or duty.

In laymans terms this means a South African citizen, who has dual nationality (second passport) can use this without restraint outside South Africa, but when entering or leaving South Africa they must use their South African passport.  http://www.southafrica-newyork.net/homeaffairs/dualcitinfo.htm

The Department received a number of inquiries from our ports of entry on whether or not the South Africans who arrive at the border with a foreign passport may be refused to enter or leave the Republic. The department is required to apply the Act to amend the citizenship. However, we recognize that many South Africans affected may not be aware of changes to the Citizenship Act and the implications for themselves.

We therefore decided that affected South Africans departing or arriving at our ports of entry, try using a foreign passport will be issued with a warning giving them three months to obtain a South African passport . They will be allowed to leave or enter South Africa.

Therefore, we wish to inform all South Africans who have dual citizenship and have no South African passports to ask their South African passports at the first opportunity. Distributed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on behalf of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.