www.thesouthafrican.com
10 - 17 June 2014
Issue 569
41433
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Deportation looms after Home Office rejects SA English
| Two recent Home Office battles outline ongoing challenges with regards to the naturalisation of South Africans as citizens of the United Kingdom, as an unexpected language barrier seems to hinder the process by sertan sanderson The Home Office has come in the firing line following two recent recent cases involving South Africans who applied for UK citizenship but ended up threatened with deportation – on account of not providing evidence that they can speak English. Johannesburg native Donovan Tapping applied for British citizenship after living in Cumbria for nearly ten years and going through various stages of being granted indefinite leave to remain in the United Kingdom. Following his recent nuptials to partner Shelley and taking the mandatory “Life in the UK” test, the 36-yearold did not expect any further hurdles along the way to UK citizenship – until he learned he would have to prove his English language skills as well. Unbeknown to Tapping, he had ticked the wrong box on the application form, saying that South Africa was a majority English-speaking country. But with 11 official languages (and 15 other languages respected in the South African Constitution), the UK considers English a minority language in South Africa on account of the low percentage of first-language speakers. Tapping has lodged an appeal, which – if refused – may likely result in his deportation from the UK. This would effectively mean
| JOEY TO THE WORLD: South African comic Joey Rasdien is one of the comedians on the line-up at the African Comedy Show at the Golder’s Green Hippodrome in London on Friday 13th June 2014. To buy tickets, please call 07404115228. Details on www.facebook.com/AfricanComedyShow
that he would have to start his application process from scratch from a British embassy in South Africa, losing years accrued towards citizenship – in addition
to the financial burdens associated with uprooting his life. Jason Nish, another South African expat living on the English-Scottish border,
encountered the same problem weeks earlier. Having also spent about a decade in the UK before applying for citizenship, the fatherof-two was prompted to prove he
can sufficiently speak English by taking an official test – despite the fact that English is the only language Nish speaks. But with all his official papers, including the sole identity document he holds, his passport, being held with the Home Office for processing, the 28-year-old is unable to take the test, effectively facing imminent deportation based on an unfortunate technicality. “I’ve not lived in South Africa since I was 10, and over the last decade I’ve made my life here in Carlisle,” Nish said in an interview published by the Carlisle-based News & Star. “My mother is British, my grandfather is British, my partner is British, and we have two wonderful children. English is my first and my only language. I even have a Carlisle accent. I regard myself as British.” Merely 10 per cent of South Africans are reported to be English speakers, despite the fact that most official business in South Africa is conducted in English. However, this appears of little interest to the Home Office when it comes to the naturalisation of prospective citizens, as both Jason Nish and Donovan Tapping continue to face their respective bureaucratic battles with little leeway to fight the regulations other than lodging appeal and hoping that their cases
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