South African chef 'too fat' to live in New Zealand

[muriel_volestrangler]

Immigration officials said Albert Buitenhuis, who weighs 130kg (286 pounds), did not have "an acceptable standard of health".
...
Mr Buitenhuis and his wife, Marthie, moved from South Africa to Christchurch in 2007. At the time, the chef weighed 160kg.
...
An immigration spokesman said Mr Buitenhuis's application had been rejected because his obesity put him at "significant risk" of complications including diabetes, hypertension and heart disease.

"It is important that all migrants have an acceptable standard of health to minimise costs and demands on New Zealand's health services," he said.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-23475583

So he's been there 6 years, paying taxes, and losing weight, and now they decide he's a health risk. Sounds like a rip-off to me. Take the taxes for a few years, when he's a net contributor to government finances, and then, when the risk of having to pay for treatment gets too much, chuck him out. What you'd expect of a health insurance company, not a decent government.

[GeorgeGist]

1. Bureaucracies sometimes fail

Not always intentionally. It's under appeal.

[LuvNewcastle]

2. There are people in America who have no tolerance for

smokers, fat people, or anyone else with a preventable condition that puts them at risk medically. Funny, one of the excuses they always use is, "With government insurance, I'm paying for it!" We'll see things like that happen here, too, I'll wager.