The travel ban on South Africa is doing more than canceling flights. It’s keeping families apart for the holidays.
Bianca Blaauw spent more than a year trying to get to the U.S from her home country of South Africa.
"I started when I got to high school in 2019, because of the restriction, I was only able to come over in the beginning of 2021, yeah 2021. So I already waited a year," Bianca said.
She finally made it over in January, working as an international nanny in Cypress.
“I really like the way that America has like freedom of speech and freedom of choice. And we don’t really have that back home so it’s kind of nice," Bianca said.
She hasn’t seen her family in a year, so her dad was coming for Christmas.
"Yeah just him, because like they don’t have enough money for my mom and everyone to come over so they like put names in a hat and drew him and it was him that was able to come," Bianca said.
But now, with the new travel ban on South Africa, he's not.
“The consulate in South Africa told me on Friday that no visas will be given out, they’re closed again," Bianca's dad, Eddie Blaauw, said.
"I really miss them a lot so it kind of did get my hopes up so when they told me last night, I was like ugghhh," Bianca said.
Still living in South Africa, Bianca’s dad Eddie says he is concerned about the variant but feels the travel ban is unnecessary.
"Oh darn it, you know, I miss her. She’s been gone for a year now and it happens. It’s something we just have to live with," Eddie said. “Everyone is now getting jittery, but other than that, we’re going on normal.”
"Give us guidelines, what we must do to be able to travel, at the moment, it’s not guidelines, they just cut," Eddie said.
A father and daughter already a world away, now has one more thing keeping them apart.
"Me and my daughter are very close so yeah, we will just have to wait until they open up," Eddie said.
“It’s going to be a hard journey, but in the end it will be worth it," Bianca said.