WELLINGTON: An overweight South African threatened with deportation from New Zealand because of his obesity was Monday granted a 23-month reprieve.
However, Albert Buitenhuis will not be entitled to any publicly-funded health care over the next two years, associate Immigration Minister Nikki Kaye said.
Buitenhuis - who now weighs 130 kilograms (286 pounds) - appealed to the minister two months ago when his work visa renewal application was rejected because of the demands his obesity could place on New Zealand’s health system. When Buitenhuis and his wife Marthie moved from South Africa to the New Zealand city of Christchurch six years ago, Albert topped a massive 160 kilograms and until this year the annual work visa was renewed without any problem.–AFP