South African visa rule forces parents to leave baby behind

December 17 2009 by Liam Clifford

Couple fall foul UK Visa changes for South Africans.

New South African visa rules brought in by UK immigration authorities this year have forced a couple to leave their baby boy in South Africa.

Ferdi and Simonne Reyneke, the South African couple who live in the UK, recently took their 14-month old son to visit family for the first time since their move. However, when they attempted to return home to the UK, their son was barred from getting on the plane as he did not have a UK visa.

The couple was forced to leave their son with his grandparents and are now working tirelessly to be reunited with Kyle before Christmas.

The couple are South African citizens and are working in the UK on UK work visas. Their son was born in the UK but the couple decided to apply for a South African passport for him before their trip.

The couple explained that they had to return to the UK as they could not miss work. Despite showing their son’s birth certificate to officials at the Virgin Atlantic desk, the airline phoned the UK Border Agency, which refused to let Kyle board the plane.

The couple have now been instructed that his UK visa will be available within a day or two once they have taken his birth certificate to the British High Commission in Pretoria. One of the parents will then have to pay to return to South Africa to pick up their son.

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