News Articles

Family wins visa battle

Source: Daily News, 03/02/2016


Cape Town - The South African husband of a Zimbabwean woman facing the
prospect of being separated from her family indefinitely says a high
court judgment in their favour handed down on Friday shows that the
justice system works.


Last year, the Daily News`s sister paper the Cape Argus reported that
Heath and Lea Stewart and their four children had turned to the
Western Cape High Court to challenge a section of South Africa`s
Immigration Act, which requires visa or permanent residence permit
applicants � including spouses of South Africans � to make their
applications outside South Africa and wait for the outcome outside the
country.


The section would have required Lea to return to her home country to
lodge the application and await the outcome. The family had moved to
South Africa in May 2014.


Lea had entered the country on a 90-day visitor`s permit and returned
to Zimbabwe in August 2014 to obtain a police clearance certificate,
required for a spousal visa application in South Africa.


On her return she was issued with another 90-day visitor`s permit and
started the process of applying for a spousal visa immediately.


On November 27, the couple was informed that the application had been
rejected.


A letter of appeal was then sent to the Home Affairs director-general,
but the appeal was rejected.


Their attorney, Craig Smith, said the judgment handed down on Friday
was precedentsetting.


He said the judgment compelled the Department of Home Affairs to allow
the spouses of South African citizens to apply in South Africa for a
spousal visa in terms of section 11 (6) of the Immigration Act.


Home Affairs was ordered to issue Lea with a spousal visa in terms of
this section of the act and "to afford her the right and liberty to
apply for permanent residence" within three months of the judgment.


Search
South Africa Immigration Company