Visa bungle: Wife banned from SA

South African dad blames Home Affairs for failure to deliver his New Zealand-born wife's spousal visa.

Pretoria - A South African father has blamed bureaucratic bungling from the Department of Home Affairs for its failure to deliver his New Zealand-born wife’s spousal visa which has resulted in her being banned from entering SA for a year.

David Vollenhoven says after that after living several years overseas he permanently returned to Cape Town at the end of 2013 to live with his wife and their infant daughter.

His wife, Kelly Vollenhoven, was granted a two-year spousal visa in 2013, and she applied to renew this visa on July 31.

Sensing trouble, the couple informed Home Affairs that they would be travelling to New Zealand for the December holidays and that issuing the spousal visa was now quite urgent.

With their flights to New Zealand drawing closer, Vollenhoven hired an immigration attorney to assist with expediting his wife’s visa application. The lawyers subsequently confirmed that her two-year spousal visa had been approved and printed but had never been dispatched to the Department of Home Affairs, Visa Facilitation Services (VFS) in Cape Town.

“On November 25, I sought assistance via email from one of the senior officials at Home Affairs. He replied on December 8 that the matter would be attended to and resolved within four working days (if not done so already). I replied that we fly out on December 11 and four days would be too long. To date I have not received any further reply,” says Vollenhoven.

Now desperate, he went to the Home Affairs office in central Cape Town on December 11, and was promised the visa could be reprinted and dispatched to the Joburg office of VFS by midday on December 11.

The couple were shocked to find, that despite the promises, immigration officials at OR Tambo instead declared her an “undesirable person”, and she was banned from entering South Africa for a year.

While his immigration lawyer lodged an appeal with Home Affairs, Vollenhoven says the ban meant his wife couldn't return to Cape Town next week as had been planned.

Also, because she was the primary caregiver to their two young children, they would have to stay behind in New Zealand.

“The decision is unconstitutional. There is a complete lack of accountability within Home Affairs and VFS and no support for South African citizens,” says Vollenhoven.

Home Affairs spokesperson Thabo Makgola referred enquiries to Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba’s spokesperson Mayihlome Tshwete who did not respond to several calls and text messages sent to his cellphone.

Pretoria News