Where do you draw the line with overstayers who have NZ citizen children?
Just yesterday, I was blogging about the decision INZ have made to deport some parents back to India, as they are illegal overstayers, even though they have three children born in NZ before 2006, who are thus citizens of NZ.
But today, theres another story about something similar, and I can’t help but wonder where sympathy ends, and annoyance and incredulity takes over.
Overstayer Geeta Praveen Samujh is fighting to stay in New Zealand to be with her month-old son, who is a New Zealand citizen by birth because his father is a permanent resident.
Immigration New Zealand has sent a letter to Ms Samujh encouraging her to depart the country voluntarily because she has been in New Zealand unlawfully for two years and 10 months
So by the time she got pregnant, she had already been here illegally for 2 years. This happened because she had been on a work visa, which was revoked by INZ when they found out she has stopped working for her employer and hadn’t told them. Which I happen to agree with – it’s not actually a hard rule to follow: on a work visa you do not have the right to change your own work place without consultation and permission from INZ – and an altered visa.
She gave birth to a baby boy – who she has not yet named – last month but has since separated from her son’s father, who is a resident.
“I have to be in New Zealand with my son who has a health condition and it is not possible for me to take him back with me if I am deported,” Ms Samujh said.
So, what does the father have to say about this? Why are they no longer together? Why is there no mention of the father? Has a doctor confirmed to INZ that the child ( a month old) is ill? Is the father stepping up to take care of his ill child?
“I do not have any family in Fiji and have lived in New Zealand for nine years.
Nearly 3 of them illegally. And from what the paper is saying – the only family in New Zealand is a 1 month old son, that should have been born in Fiji if she had followed the law and left when she was supposed to.
“In accordance with principles of natural justice and fairness, I should be allowed to stay with my son as he needs me.”
No – this is bollocks. In accordance with the principles of natural justice and fairness – she should have left New Zealand 2 years and 10 months ago. That is what is fair to the rest of us schmucks that follow the rules and gain and retain residency legally. This is the kind of stuff that means we have to be scrutinised and treated with utmost suspicion in case we decided to overstay. It is grossly unfair to the rest of us.
Unlike the family in yesterdays blog (who let’s remember also broke Immigration law and have been living here illegally), this child has not been brought up here, there is no stable family unit that would be torn apart by the mother leaving. The father isn’t an NZ citizen (though to be fair – there is bugger all information about him so who can really tell).
This is the kind of thing that means one day Immigration law will change and children will not have NZ citizenship unless both parents are also citizens. It’s why they changed the law so that children born here don’t automatically get citizenship even if the parents are just on tourist visas. It was a back door for many people to claim they needed to stay to be with their children. The law was tightened up to stop it. Perhaps not far enough.
I guess this makes me sound really harsh and uncaring – I’m sorry about that – I just cant help but get annoyed at the amount of times children are used as a reason that illegal overstayers shouldn’t be deported. There are thousands of people every year wanting to move to New Zealand. Not all of them are allowed to. Unfortunately not all of them have children that could be used to wipe out the fact that we have stayed in NZ illegally.
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How do you split up a family?
Theres a sad case running currently in New Zealand of an family risking being torn apart – with the parents being deported to India, and the 3 three children staying in New Zealand.
In some ways, it’s not a straightforward case: the parents have been in New Zealand for 11 years, but for seven of those have been over-stayers, and thus here illegally. Which does have a tendency to cause the blood to boil of many of us who fought tooth and nail to get through the process legally. No doubt about it – they need to be deported!
Except the three children are actually New Zealand citizens, because they were born in new Zealand before the law change that said you could only be a citizen by birth if your parents were residents or citizens themselves. So the children have a right to stay.
Which means the parents have a choice: leave their children behind where they are settled and happy, or take them back to India, where by all accounts they will live in a slum as they are a low caste family.
How exactly are they supposed to make that choice?
The case is being reviewed by the associate minister – and to be honest I really don’t envy her having to deal with this one. On the one hand – it’s a no-brainer – you have to let the family stay. The children are at the end of the day, New Zealand citizens, and have the right to live here. It is not their fault that this has happened, and they should not be punished, or have their family torn apart. Let’s face it – the rules have changed – this will not happen so much in future – but right now – they have citizenship – that should allow their parents to remain.
On the other hand – the parents have made a mockery of the immigration process, and have basically wangled their way into the country and stayed illegally. Does the government have to be seen to make sure that others don’t try and get away with living here illegally? Well yes – but then the previous government did this by altering the law that means children born here are not automatically citizens.
I hope they let this one go. I think the parents have probably paid enough for their failure to obey the law on this matter, but if they are allowed to stay, I hope they do realise what a close call they had. I also can’t help wondering what would be happening if this was a UK family: they wouldn’t be able to claim the children would be living in a slum if sent back, and so the British family would be unlikely to get a reprieve. That is grossly unfair at the end of the day.
Like I said, not actually straightforward, but while there are cases where the children are citizens I personally feel you rule in favour of the children being allowed to stay – with their parents. It’s the right thing to do, even if it’s not quite the legal thing to do.
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Don’t become an NZ Citizen in Waitakere City!
Becoming a Citizen of New Zealand is something many of strive for – especially if – like the British – you can get Dual Citizenship and don’t have to give up your birthright to do it. To qualify, you now have to have residency for 5 years, so you really have to prove you are here to stay, and make a huge commitment to New Zealand. It’s a wonderful opportunity, and something I personally felt honoured to be able to achieve. Our Citizenship ceremony – though small (being in a small rural town) was lovely and friendly.
Apparently its not if you happen to have your citizenship conferred by one Waitakere City councillor Ross Dallow, who takes this opportunity to lecture you – not on the responsibilities of your new place as an NZ citizen, but on the horrors that Immigrants bring to NZ: Kidnappings amongst the Asian population, the “browning” of NZ (cos like there isn’t a home grown Brown population anyway!) and in increase in Illegal Drug Manufacture (which services a huge swathe of the Kiwi Population – I guess we are supposed to ignore that.)
Apparently he was trying (as an Ex-Policeman) to show these poor immigrants that they could trust the police here:
“I’ve said there have been instances of kidnappings in the Asian community and that is now behind us, but I do point out that in recent times there have been a number of Asian people involved in the manufacture and distribution of drugs. That’s all factual.
“I encouraged them [that] if they know anything about crime, to trust our New Zealand policemen – in some overseas countries [the police] are corrupt – and I would trust them to do the appropriate thing.
“Go to the police, don’t be frightened, as they are very safe police here.
Right – cos Kiwis are never involved in crime? Blimey – illegal drug manufacture here is so rife its almost like a weekend hobby – and it sure as hell ain’t Asians who making the bulk of it! And if this is the attitude being shown of the NZ Police Force – it really hasn’t done them any favours. Besides – the NZ Police Force not corrupt? Um – theres a lot of stuff in the news here that would tend to contradict that view rather a lot.
Now don’t get me wrong – Mr Dallow is entitled to his opinion. I may think it’s stupid – but I think he has the right to hold it and to spout forth as often as he likes as a councilor and as a private person – but he is bloody well NOT entitled to spoil this day for the new citizens of New Zealand – and he should bloody well NOT speak like that when representing the Queen and this country in such a ceremony. I hope that he is banned from EVER holding a citizenship ceremony again.
Why on earth is this twit allowed to ruin such a day in the first place??? Apparently his lectures at these ceremonies are well known, and complained about by other council staff. Which does beg the question -why hasn’t he been removed from carrying out this function. Carterton’s Mayor did ours – so why cant the Mayor of Waitakere City – Bob Harvey – take over and provide a ceremony that is civil, polite and a beautiful welcome to all new Citizens, no matter where they came from or the colour of their skin.
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