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Please assist here: I am South African and my boyfriend is European, he came to visit me the beginning of the month as it was his birthday. Yesterday, we went to Namibia for Easter holidays, to our surprise the officials at the borders notified us that he has overstayed in SA. We didn't check the passport as we always knew that they always give him 90 days to visit me.

But now, there was a mistake, they didn't issue him 90 days. He had to go back to Europe after hearing the news. Some of his clothing and gadgets that he came to visit with are at my place in SA. We tried to call the emergency number for the embassy in Namibia but it couldn't go through since it is a holiday. So he had to go back home to Europe.

What's the quickest way we can resolve this? Because it was not our fault but there was some mistake with the embassy issuing his days.

Also, I wanted to find out that since we have been dating for over a year now, are there any possible applications that can make his visa to be more than 90 days?

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  • Your assumption the embassy made a mistake is just that: an assumption. It could well have been deliberate. And, as pointed out in the answer below, not checking the visa was the real mistake. – user67108 Mar 31 '18 at 5:20
  • We honestly didn't check because he always visits and he always gets 90 days. I guess from our part, we should have checked. But, hopefully, on Tuesday we will get some explanations why was it not 90 days also maybe it will be fixed. It just seems so long to wait for Tuesday. I was hoping to find out more about who to call or email for such a situation. It was not deliberate, we can't risk that (: – Jay Mar 31 '18 at 6:05
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What's the quickest way we can resolve this? Because it was not our fault but there was some mistake with the embassy issuing his days.

Also, I wanted to find out that since we have been dating for over a year now, are there any possible applications that can make his visa to be more than 90 days?

...

We honestly didn't check because he always visits and he always gets 90 days.

(My emphasis in both quotes).

If he's visited multiple times with 90-day visas in "over a year" (which I presume means less than two years), it seems quite likely that the shorter visa was not a mistake. ZA immigration are probably trying to limit his time to ensure that he's not effectively resident. If you want a longer visa then you may have to look at getting a residency visa: follow-up questions about that should be asked on our sister site expats.

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If the duration he was given was written on the visa then it was his fault that he overstayed because it was his responsibility to read that information.

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  • Thanks so much, everyone for your assistance. In the morning I was on a panic and very shocked because the event happened so fast and we genuinely didn't know. But going forward the best advice we received is to appeal. So that's the route that we're taking – Jay Mar 31 '18 at 15:12
  • @Jay If you get the chance to update this site with the outcome, that would be helpful to other users. – user16259 Mar 31 '18 at 15:23
  • Yes will definitely do. We are still trying to ask around what's the best way to write a convincing motivational letter @user16259 because we genuinely didn't know. As I mentioned that he always gets 90 days to visit since we were far from the 90 days we were a bit relaxed in checking the Visa date. if there's anyone who knows what's the best way to write a winning motivation we would really appreciate that. We're still in shock but we're trying to remain calm and find the best possible solutions. – Jay Mar 31 '18 at 15:36

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