I'd like to present to you a case study of a matter that I dealt with. I believe that this would assist many people in their travels into and out of South Africa. Our client has given permission for us to use their story to allow others to learn from this unpleasant situation. We will however not make use of our client’s real name.
Mary is a British national who was born and raised in South Africa but has lived in England for years with her husband and family. Her mother is still a South African citizen and resides in Johannesburg. Mary and her husband John were planning a wonderfully extravagant wedding for their daughter, which was to be held in Hazeyview in July 2019.
Mary, John, their daughter and future son-in-law took numerous trips into South Africa in the months preceding the wedding to attend to arrangements and to visit with Mary’s ailing mother. Mary did not retain her South African citizenship when she took British citizenship.
In April 2019, Mary, John and the soon-to-be newlyweds flew from Heathrow Airport into OR Tambo International. The airport was busy; the queues were long, and when the family approached the passport control counter, they were required to hand all four passports to the Immigration Officer simultaneously for insertion of their 90 day visitor’s visa stamps. Because the family are from the UK, a visa-exempt country, they are issued a Visitor's Visa on arrival at the airport. This visa is in the form of an entry stamp placed in the passport, with the arrival date and a handwritten expiry date. The family was hurried through the gates after the passports were attended to and thought nothing more of this encounter. Mary and her family went on to visit the wedding venue, attend to some wedding related meetings, and 3 days later departed from OR Tambo to return home.
Mary was very clearly within her 90 visitor’s visa, only having been in South Africa for 3 days. It was at the airport that Mary was advised by the Immigration Officer on duty that she had overstayed a previous visa and was subsequently being banned from re-entering South Africa for 5 years. With her daughter’s upcoming wedding, this was a significant blow to the family.
The problem? The Immigration Officer, on arrival, did not stamp Mary’s passport and she therefore, on the face of it, had no valid visa. Mary did not check, and assumed that all was in order. The Immigration Officer departing Mary looked at the last valid visa in her passport and “determined” that Mary had overstayed her visa. This was a clear error on the part of the Immigration Officer, as he could and should have taken note of the departure stamp in December 2018; and further should have alerted a supervisor that Mary had no entry stamp in her passport on the day that she arrived in South Africa - which could only have been an error.
The lesson? When arriving in South Africa on a foreign passport, it is vital that you, as the traveler, inspect your visa or entry stamp carefully. You must ensure that (1) your passport has in fact been stamped; (2) the stamp is clearly legible and that no parts of the stamp are obscured; (3) the entry date is current; (4) the expiry date, which is handwritten, is clearly legible.
Taking a moment to do this will prevent you from facing the same extreme stress as Mary – who was nearly unable to attend her own daughter’s wedding. Although it is the duty of the immigration officer to properly enter you into the country, it is also obvious that errors such as this can happen, and it is you who has the added measure of control in avoiding this situation.