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Visa mixup puts South African resident in jail

By admin | November 26, 2006

An Irish golf instructor who has lived in South Africa for five years spent 12 days in jail in a visa mixup, according to the South African Sunday Tribune. David Graham was in the process of applying for a visa extension when he was arrested in June in Durban. Immigration officials had misread a figure on his documentation and concluded his paperwork was invalid.

Graham was told he would be deported, and was sent to jail; although he was informed he would be put in the prison’s immigration section, he was instead put in a cell with murder suspects. Graham says he bribed fellow prisoners in order to survive; South Africa’s Home Affairs department took four days to find him because he was in the wrong section of the prison. His own lawyer did not know how to find him.

Graham was finally granted bail in August; his case was dismissed in October. The newspaper reports that a department of home affairs spokesperson said they were investigating the matter.

Read the full story on iol.co.za.

Topics: Africa, Visas | Comments Off on Visa mixup puts South African resident in jail

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