A South African family has found itself in a tight spot after New Zealand authorities found that their five-year-old blind daughter should leave the country.

They declined to renew Caitlyn Davies’ visa this year as she is not of an “acceptable standard of health”.

Caitlyn and her father Jonathan‚ who works on a farm in New Zealand‚ moved to the country in 2015. They were later joined by a one-year-old sibling and her mother.

Speaking to the publication on Monday‚ the family lawyer‚ Andrew Riches‚ said his clients were still looking at other appeal options but the family is “devastated“.

“Often we are dealing with an adult ...it’s not often that we are dealing with the parents who are lawfully here but the child is unable to stay here‚” said Riches.

He said the burden on the health care system of the country would be minimal as Caitlyn only needs a specialist check-up once a year. “The big cost is on education‚” he said.

According to an article in the New Zealand media‚ the family said that there were issues around the safety of their daughter at school should she return to South Africa.

In another case a 58-year-old South African woman has likened her pending deportation from Australia to a “death sentence”‚ after her visa application was rejected.

Linda Oppel was told she would have to return home because her sister‚ who lives in Perth‚ was not considered her relative by the Australian government‚ despite a DNA test that was 99.6% positive.

“I’ve embraced Australia as my new home now with my two kids and my grandchild so I’m really devastated. I can’t imagine myself going back and leaving my son and my grandchild behind‚” Oppel said in an interview with local radio station Radio 6PR.

She said that the confusion over her sister was due to Oppel being adopted after their parents died when she was five years old.

“It’s like a death sentence for me to leave my family behind‚ I won’t be able to survive that.”

Gerry Eisenberg‚ an immigration lawyer‚ cautioned South Africans against going to other countries without understanding their immigrations laws.

“If they can’t afford to pay an immigration lawyer‚ they shouldn’t make the move because very often we hear stories of people going abroad only to be turned back‚” he said.

He said countries like New Zealand‚ Australia and Canada now had complicated immigration systems.

The most recent figures from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)‚ showed that by the end of 2015 more than 400 South Africans were living as refugees in other countries‚ and that a further 840 were asylum seekers‚ pending approval of their application for refugee status.

Migration lawyer Craig Smith said that South Africans would struggle to successfully apply for refugee status in other countries‚ and that many may use the application process as a way to extend their stay abroad.

“It is likely that they may be using asylum to ultimately get some status abroad to be able to prolong their stay with a view to ultimately getting permanent residence‚” said Smith.

Eisenberg said he has seen an influx of enquiries from individuals who want to go abroad.

“And what is remarkable‚ we are finding more and more people of colour trying to go overseas. The numbers are increasing‚ there is no question about that‚” he said.

He said a number of people call him asking for help as they have scored jobs either in Germany or the United States of America and their reasons were less about economic concerns but more about safety and their children’s education.