Durban mom's plight to reunite with husband stuck in Russia
A Westville woman, whose husband has been stuck overseas for seven months, says her family's patience has turned to despair.
Christine Oganisian husband, a Russian citizen, went to Moscow two weeks before South Africa's total lockdown.
She explains why: "He had a temporary relative visa which expired but when we went to Home Affairs to renew it, the person in immigration who we spoke to, advised us that we don't actually really need that resident permit, because Russia and South Africa have visa exemptions, so I can enter Russia for 90 days and my husband can enter South Africa for 90 days."
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She says because Zhora is not a South African citizen, repatriation wasn't an option for him.
Oganisian says there was some hope when our borders were reopened for international travel last week. But, Russia was listed as a high-risk country for COVID-19, banning all visitors from there.
She says she understands the situation, but it's been extremely difficult for their three-year-old daughter.
"My daughter is turning four on Friday 09 October and anything she wants we can buy for her just to kind of comfort her but when I asked her what she wants for her birthday and she said 'I just want daddy to come home'"
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She's says while not ideal, her husband's looking at the possibility of re-entering South Africa via a country, where the Covid-19 risk is low.
"I have emailed every single person that you can think to email, short of our president. There have been various email addressing flirting around of people at Home Affairs who are handling repatriation and visa exemptions - I have emailed everyone. It's been quite challenging as for the past six months I haven't really received any concrete response."
