THE Ugandan-born wife of a Namibian permanent resident on Friday won a court order that would allow her to legally live, work and study in Namibia without having to obtain residence, employment or study permits first.
In the order it was declared that on account of her marriage to a permanent resident of Namibia Ugandan national Jackie Wolgast need not apply for and obtain a permanent residence, employment or study permit as provided for in the Immigration Control Act in order to be lawfully resident in Namibia.The order was granted by Judge Johan Swanepoel in the High Court in Windhoek.The order was given without opposition from the Minister of Home Affairs and Immigration, the Chief of Immigration, and the Immigration Selection Board, whom Wolgast and her husband, Marc Andre Wolgast, sued in a bid to get relief from the bureaucratic hassles of having to apply at regular intervals for permits that would allow her to remain living in Namibia.Friday’s order is the second such order to be given in the High Court this year regarding the residence rights of people married to persons who are lawfully resident in Namibia. The previous order was given in June in a case in which three non-Namibian husbands of Namibian women obtained a declaration from the court that they do not need to apply for and obtain residence or employment permits in order to legally live and work in Namibia.Mrs Wolgast stated in an affidavit filed with the court that she and her husband got married in December 2007. Their marriage is not a marriage of convenience or for any improper purposes, she stated.Her husband is a German national who has been the holder of a Namibian permanent residence permit since December 1981.She first came to Namibia as a student in 2006, Mrs Wolgast informed the court. She said after her student permit expired in early 2010, the Ministry of Home Affairs and Immigration issued her with a 12-month temporary residence permit because of her marriage to a permanent resident of Namibia.Since then, when she has applied for jobs, she has been informed without fail that she would only be considered if she had a permanent residence permit, she said.When she tried to apply with the Ministry of Home Affairs and Immigration for a permanent residence permit, though, an official told her that she did not qualify for such a permit since she has a temporary permanent residence permit, she related in her affidavit.She has since applied for the renewal of her temporary permit, because she is afraid that without such a permit she might be arrested or face deportation, Mrs Wolgast stated.Her lawyer, Norman Tjombe, has in the meantime advised her that because she is the spouse of a permanent resident she need not obtain a permanent residence permit or employment permit to lawfully reside and be employed in Namibia, she stated. That is because her husband is a permanent resident of Namibia and accordingly domiciled in Namibia.’As a person married in good faith to a person domiciled in Namibia, the provisions of the Immigration Control Act requiring a foreign national to obtain any sort of permit, do not apply to me,’ she stated.In the case that the court dealt with in June, the Minister of Home Affairs and Immigration, Rosalia Nghidinwa, conceded in an affidavit that people who are domiciled in Namibia in accordance with the Immigration Control Act, such as someone married in good faith to a Namibian citizen and who considers Namibia to be his or her permanent home, do not require Namibian permanent residence permits, employment permits, study permits or visitors’ entry permits, and that the same applies for such a person’s spouse and dependent children.
