People & Places
It's hard going home
I grew up in South Africa (I wasn't born there) but went to school there, and returned to the UK only when the troubles were getting bad in 1979.
Having just read the article Dealing with disappointment we can empathise!
I grew up in South Africa (I wasn't born there) but went to school there, and returned to the UK only when the troubles were getting bad in 1979. I had always wanted to go back and got the chance to go for a visit with my partner in 2004 for three weeks. My dad still lives there, just outside Cape Town and we stayed at his house. On arrival, I instantly felt at home and really didn't want to come back to England. My partner and I decided, there and then, that is where we want to live when he retires from the Police. We went out again a year later, in 2005, and decided that, perhaps, we could think about buying a property out there so, the following year, in February 2006, we bought a piece of land on which we hope to build a house.
In 2005 we went to the Emigrate show and chatted to representatives at the South Africa stands. They gave us their cards should we decide to contact them later, and we thoroughly enjoyed our day.
We contacted one of them in connection in applying for my permanent residency (as I had been out of South Africa for over 20 years, it had lapsed) and paid the initial fee of nearly £1000 to start this process. This was in July 2005. There were various problems along the way, including filling in the application form they had e-mailed us, and then being told it was on the wrong one. Due to the immigration regulations changing, there was now an amended form, which we should fill in. It would have been nice to know this earlier! The final blow was after we were finally called for an interview in London in May 2006, and after an hour and a half, before we actually even got to see the person we went to see, we were told our papers were out of date! Nothing could be done! We were furious!
What this now means is that we have had to start completely from scratch, and will be reapplying for visas - this time temporary visas, and will apply for permanent residency upon our arrival in South Africa. We still have the same definite date in mind that we had when we started, end of August 2007 - the date my (now) husband can take early retirement. Unfortunately, it has meant a lot more work and even more organisation to try and remedy this.
But we are still going to emigrate!
Lee & Steve Peck
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