Mailbox: A widow's ordeal - Home Affairs cites "red tape" to deny permanent residence

Key topics:

• Permanent residence for Wanida was wrongly refused after husband's death.

• Immigration delay caused refusal despite timely visa application submission.

• Wanida faces uncertainty living in South Africa and running family business.

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By John Bromley

My daughter-in-law Wanida Keeping [is] a Thai national who tragically lost her husband, my stepson Nick, in June 2024 while her application for permanent residence was sitting at Home Affairs. They were married here in 2015 and have lived here together since 2015.

Her application for permanent residence was submitted in May 2023 and was wrongly refused in December 2024 on the grounds that she no longer had a spouse! If the application was dealt with timeously, she would have had the permit long before he died.

We submitted an appeal through immigration attorneys but it has been nearly eight months with no response at all from the department and she is sitting with the uncertainty  of being able to live in her own home and run the family business.

The details are spelt out in the attached letter addressed to the Minister Dr Leon Schreiber, dated 30 July, to which I have not had an acknowledgement or reply. I tried to call the minister or his assistants at the numbers given on the Department Website, and for each of the numbers, I [got] a narrative that the number does not exist.

I have confirmed with Wanida that she is happy for you to publish the story in the hope that it will elicit a favourable response from the department, resulting in her getting her permanent residence visa, to which she is entitled.

Dear Mr Schreiber,

I have taken the unusual liberty of writing to you personally on behalf of my dear daughter-in-law Wanida Keeping.

She is an immigrant from Thailand who was married to my late stepson Nicholas Keeping, a South African citizen, for 9 years, and was with him for 12 years before he died in June 2024 of a sudden heart attack.

We are appealing to you to intervene on her behalf in the circumstances where her application for permanent residence, submitted as long ago as May 2023, was wrongly refused in December 2024 on the grounds that she no longer had a spouse. Her appeal has been pending since January 2025 with no indication of when she might receive a decision. 

The couple moved to South Africa in 2015; she was on a spousal visa. The wedding celebration took place with family and friends in  May 2015, at Noordhoek Farm Village. I gave her away as her father could not be present

Nick established his business, Tomb Tattoo (now an internationally renowned tattoo shop) in 2016, and she helped him.

They purchased a home in Woodstock in 2020.

They renovated the matrimonial home and cultivated the garden together. They were devoted to their two dogs, Franky, a French Bulldog and Caesar, a Staffy.

They also loved running, hiking in the Cape mountains and swimming in the sea together.

They had, and she still enjoys, a wide circle of multicultural friends and entertained frequently.

She and Nick dreamed of starting a family and had been trying for years, and eventually sought fertility treatments. Shortly before Nick died, she was told that she could not have children. It was a bitter pill to swallow, but worse was to come.

Wanida followed all the required visa steps, culminating in her application providing all the required supporting documentation for permanent residence submitted in May 2023.

In December 2024, she was told to come to the department to collect the permanent residence permit.

When she got there, they told her that they had ascertained that her spouse had passed away, and she no longer was entitled to permanent residence and refused the permit. She was profoundly shocked.

We instructed immigration attorneys to prepare an appeal for her.

The main ground of her appeal is the unfair delay by the department in considering the application.

Her permanent residence application was duly submitted on 04 May 2023.

Nicholas, her husband, passed away suddenly on 10 June 2024, more than a year after submission of her permanent residency application. Her application was refused 19 months after the application because Nicholas had passed on by the time the application was being processed.

Accordingly, such wrongful delay on the part of the department resulted in her application being refused.

I am sure that you will agree that this is unfair and unjust and a breach of her right to fair, expeditious and rational treatment in terms of the Constitution of South Africa .

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Wanida still resides in the home and pays the bond installments on the house.

The sudden loss of her husband at such a young age left her in an emotionally and financially vulnerable position. Cape Town has been her home since 2015. It is the place where she built a life with Nicholas, and all her friends are here and her livelihood from her business, the tattoo shop.

She has been actively integrated into the community, living here lawfully and with deep respect for South African culture and values.

It would be cruel and unbearable for her to have to leave.

I did not want to burden you unduly with information and documents. However, other than the documents submitted on record in support of the application and appeal, we can provide many supporting documents as well as numerous reference letters from across the community for your consideration.