A Visa 12 Years In The Making…
For all of our clients, timing is crucial - whether it is securing that initial Work Visa, once the job is in hand or getting to the final goal of Residence as quickly as possible - for most of them, having to wait weeks or months is like having the night before Christmas on an endless loop. Let’s face it, waiting for anything is painful, but waiting for confirmation that your new life in NZ can start, is absolutely torturous.
Imagine however, waiting in that state of limbo for 12 years and being unlawful throughout the entire time. Being too afraid to go to the doctor for fear that your lack of a Visa might see you packed up and shipped off. Imagine not being able to feel settled, comfortable or secure in the country that you have spent the greater part of your adult life in. Imagine being removed from New Zealand for lack of a Visa and having to leave your partner and daugther (both New Zealand citizens) behind.
If you can picture any of those horrendous situations you would be in the same hole that my client found herself in and we were able to pull her out from. Our client (we will call her Kate), arrived in New Zealand in 2005, with plans to find work and establish herself here, having followed her previous partner who had already secured employment and a Work Visa. Unfortunately that partnership didn’t get much further than the arrivals hall at Christchurch airport, leaving Kate to go it alone - which she did successfuly, when she secured a job offer and her own Work Visa.
For five years Kate was lawfully in the country, living and working and along the way happened to meet a New Zealander whom she quite liked. That relationship bloomed and the pair were married in 2008. Fast forward to 2010 and Kate was expecting the arrival of their daughter, coincidentally at about the same time her Work Visa was due to expire. This is where life gets in the way and for Kate, her partner and their new arrival - life did indeed get in the way. Kate’s Visa expired but in the midst of having a young child to care for and a series of events leading to relocations, financial difficulties and a host of other complications (not all bad), 12 years passed by in the blink of an eye.
During that time, Kate was always conscious of her status or rather lack thereof and many of the things that we take for granted, she found terrifying. Kate had to actively avoid becoming ill and requiring medical care, in the event her Visa situation became known, she could not work without a valid Visa to do so and was restricted from a whole host of activities that are almost crucial to a normal existence. Kate desperately wanted to sort her situation out but finances were difficult or the circumstances simply didn’t allow it and there was always the persistent risk that an attempt to fix the problem might create an even larger one - her being removed from New Zealand and her family. Not a great situation to be in for anyone and so eventually, after 12 long years she sought help.
To give this some background and to explain the predicament, when a person’s Visa expires they immediately become liable for deportation, which is a situation where INZ can, if they want to, take action to actively deport a person. If you don’t hold a valid Visa, you cannot apply through normal channels for a new one and you have no right to work, study or even be physically present in the country. There are avenues to appeal your liability but these have a short window of time. Kate was at the far end of the unlawful spectrum, having clocked up over a decade without a Visa.
In these situations and assuming that INZ have not served a deportation notice the only available avenue is to file a request (not an application) under Section 61 of the Immigration Act. Section 61 delegates power from the Minister to certain immigration officers to grant someone unlawfully in the country, a temporary Visa where there is good cause to do so. The issue however is that the threshold for this is very high and INZ are under no obligation to even consider the request and do not have to give reasons why, if they decide to ignore it. A lot of people submit frivolous Section 61 applications with no real reason for INZ to consider, let alone approve them and so there is also a danger of being swept away in a mass of declined requests.
In Kate’s situation, we believed that based on her relationship, her daughter and her circumstances that there was a good reason to keep here her and to our mind her story was indeed very compelling. When Kate first called, she was nervous and understandeably anxious - rightly so. We could not guarantee the outcome but we could guarantee she would get a fair hearing and so we set about pulling together evidence to support that 12 year history. It took INZ two weeks from the day they received the request to approving a Visitor Visa for four months, which gives Kate the ability to go on and secure further Visas and eventually Residence. Two weeks to remedy 12 years of anguish.
For the team here it is another successful outcome, but for Kate, I suspect that it means a lot more. It means no longer having to look over your shoulder or avoid having to explain to your 12 year old daughter why mum never goes to the doctor. It means finally feeling settled and that there is a long-term (legal) future in the country you have lived in for 17 years and a sense of certainty and security. Having been part of the solution we are obviously pleased at the result but we take our hat off to Kate as well for stepping up and having the courage to sort her situation out.
Immigration is often talked about (particularly in the current climate) and it is easy to think of it in terms of economic impact, application numbers, processing times and rules but underneath all of that are people. The immigration process, no matter how simple or complicated it is for any individual applicant, remains a deeply personal thing - whether it is moving here to take on a new job and a new life or fixing someone’s status after a nerve-wracking 12 years; and, because this process is all about people, no matter how clever, automated or smart INZ’s online systems will be, there will always be a need for people able to offer advice and a steady, safe pair of hands to navigate applicants through that process.
We like to think we can offer anyone serious about the move, a very safe pair of hands.
