Visa rules change leaves a Scarborough woman stran

Heather Sharp had moved from South Africa to UK in 1971, and had been travelling to her native land each year to see her family. Because she was born in South Africa and holds a South African passport, she always had problems re-entering UK. This time however she has found herself stranded on African land. UK immigration had been warning South Africa for quite some time to improve their immigration and passport systems otherwise stricter rules would be implemented. Now, with this review, implemented from March of 2009, people travelling from South Africa to UK would need a Visa to enter. This review was caused by a growing concern about UK’s national security. Since the South African passport system has been accused of being lax, there is a greater risk that people from other countries would gain a South African passport merely to get into UK. Since Sharp had been constantly facing problems returning to UK, she said that she and her husband had consulted the UK immigration as well as her travel agent before leaving the country and argues that she has not been informed about this review. She would now have to go through the completely cumbersome process of acquiring a visa before she can move back into UK. This wait could last as long as eight weeks.