Johannesburg - Frustrated with what they call “extreme delays” at the Department of Home Affairs (HA), a South African/Chinese couple took to social media to cast a spotlight on a five-year wait for them to finally live together as a family.
However, HA hit back, saying it was only able to resume permanent residence applications in 2022 after Covid-19 travel restrictions eased around the world. But this is of little to no comfort to the couple who were married in South Africa in 2017 and are still living apart.
Kraaifontein resident Francois Oosthuizen, 37, is separated from his husband and son, both of whom had to return to China late in 2019 because of the delay in processing their permanent residence application. Oosthuizen said getting married was the easy part but what followed had been an absolute nightmare.
“We had to have many interviews to prove the validity of our civil ceremony. Bowen Li was on a visitor’s visa at the time and he had limited time in South Africa. Our son was 2 years old when we married in October 2017. Five years later we are still not together as a family,” he said.
The couple’s son, who was born through surrogacy, lives in China with his father, Li. The family uprooted their lives to move to China in 2019 in order to stay together and Oosthuizen now lives alone in Cape Town.
“Sometimes I find it difficult to wake up. I miss having them around and having fun with them,” he said.
Speaking to Independent Media from China, Li said: “I feel so lonely and hopeless since my husband have gone back to his own country.
“We always do things together - now nothing feels the same way since he is not with me. We are also good parents together. When he is not here, it is also more difficult for me to take care of our son alone. I miss my husband. I just want to be with him again as soon as possible.”
The couple started a petition on change.org to draw attention to their plight.
HA spokesperson Siyabulela Qoza said the department’s records showed the application was received by the South African Embassy in Beijing in November 2021.
“At that time, the department had temporarily suspended the processing of permanent residence applications because the whole world had restricted travel and in compliance with the regulations that were in place at the time to limit the spread of Covid-19,” he said.
Qoza said the processing of permanent residence applications only started again in 2022.
“At that time, there was a backlog of these applications. Bowen Li’s application has since been finalised and the outcome of that application will be dispatched to the embassy in Beijing next week,” he said.
In the online petition the couple called on ordinary South Africans to help them.
“Please please help us to sign and share this petition with as many people as possible,” the plea reads. “A couple of clicks from your side can make a huge difference to our lives.
“You, as an ordinary South African citizen, have the power to bring and keep a family together. Please help us to make the Department of Home Affairs know about our family and help us to convince them to process our application so that our family can be whole again.”
Oosthuizen said if his husband’s permanent residence permit was not approved, they would continue to be forced to live apart.
“Our family will continue to face the daily struggle of not being together,” Oosthuizen said. “I miss my husband and my son so much every day - my heart breaks when I think about being away from them.
“It is a constant struggle to get up every morning and realise that I am all alone without my family. I am worried about what will happen to us as a family as the time goes by - we love each other and our child dearly and we cannot imagine this life as we are not together.
“If the Department of Home Affairs approves my husband’s residence permit, they will be helping to keep our family together, they will be bringing us immense joy, and they will be helping us to make more wonderful memories together.”
Meanwhile, HA said Oosthuizen and Li had been given an update of their application which Oosthuizen confirmed with Independent Media.