A Plan B — without abandoning Plan A.

Plan A stays. Plan B sits quietly alongside it.

For most of our South African clients this is not an emigration decision. The business, the home and the life stay here. It is an allocation decision: they are already weighing how much capital to hold offshore, in which currency and through which assets, and the question we are asked is whether a defined part of that allocation can also secure something a portfolio on its own cannot — a lawful right for the family to live in Europe.

The same allocation is asked to do four things at once: hold value in a hard currency rather than the rand, produce potential income or growth in euros, support a European residence position for the family, and — where the programme provides it — widen how freely they travel. One allocation, four functions; but four separate tests, each met on its own merits.

What a European residence permit changes.

A South African passport requires a visa for short visits to the Schengen Area. Most applications are granted — but every journey still begins with an application, an appointment and a file, and the trip cannot be booked until someone else has decided.

A valid residence permit issued by a Schengen country removes the application itself. You can generally travel within the Schengen Area for up to 90 days in any 180-day period without applying for a visa each time.

You also hold the right to reside in the country that issued the permit, subject to that programme’s own conditions, with the family included where its rules allow.

The distinction matters: the passport remains South African, and nothing about your citizenship changes — but your family stops being an applicant across twenty-nine countries.

A residence permit is granted at the issuing state’s discretion and on its own conditions; a qualifying investment does not guarantee approval. How the investment is funded from South Africa — the 2026 allowance, or capital already held offshore — is set out in the 2026 offshore allowance guide.

Citizenship and residence solve different problems.

Since the Constitutional Court ruling of 6 May 2025, a South African no longer loses their citizenship by acquiring another, so a second citizenship is held alongside the South African one rather than instead of it.

For most families the appropriate structure is therefore a European residence for mobility and a separate citizenship for long-term diversification. They do not need to be acquired at the same time.

South Africa, answered.

Is dual citizenship allowed in South Africa?

Yes. South Africa permits dual citizenship, and since the Constitutional Court ruling of 6 May 2025 you no longer lose your South African citizenship by acquiring another — the provision that stripped it automatically (section 6(1)(a) of the Citizenship Act) was struck down, backdated to 1995.

What is the best second passport or residence for a South African?

It depends on the goal. For Schengen mobility, the Greek residence-by-investment route (commonly called the Greece golden visa); for a long-term EU base, Cyprus permanent residence; for a second citizenship, São Tomé and Príncipe’s statute-based contribution route; and in the Caribbean, Grenada — noting that its US E-2 treaty is a separate, discretionary US business-visa application that can be relied on only after three years’ residence in Grenada, not a right the passport confers. The route follows from the objective, and the objective is established first.

Does South Africa have a golden visa or citizenship-by-investment programme?

No. South Africa has no residence- or citizenship-by-investment programme of its own — South Africans invest abroad to obtain a second residence or passport. Searches for “citizenship by investment South Africa” usually mean exactly that.

Will I still pay South African tax if I get a second residence?

Possibly. South African tax follows tax residency, not your passport. Simply acquiring a second residence or citizenship does not end your SA tax — you remain a tax resident until you formally cease residency with SARS, at which point a section 9H “exit tax” (a deemed capital-gains disposal) may apply. Where changing tax residency is part of the plan at all, it is assessed with licensed South African tax advisers before anything is committed.

Can I move the money out of South Africa legally?

Yes. Funds move through the R2 million single discretionary allowance, which needs no clearance, and the R10 million foreign capital allowance — per eligible taxpayer, per calendar year — with SARS Approval International Transfer status and a valid TCS PIN. Capital already held lawfully offshore can be applied to the investment directly and consumes no new allowance. We coordinate the exchange-control steps as part of the engagement.