The New Zealand Immigration and Protection Tribunal has ordered that a Tongan family be granted resident visas.
The Tribunal found that they had proved exceptional humanitarian circumstance because it was in the best interests of the three eldest children to complete their education in New Zealand and the support the family provided to the wife’s sister, who was seriously ill.
The family consists of the parents, who are Tongan citizens, and their five children, aged 18, 16, 14, six and three.
Before their arrival in New Zealand in December 2007, both the husband and wife had made several visits to New Zealand. When they re-entered in December 2007 with their three sons, they held visitor visas.
In July 2008, the husband was granted a two-year Essential Skills work visa to work as a truck driver. He was granted a series of work visas, the last of which expired in October 2018.
The wife also held work visas and the children held student and/or visitor visas. Two daughters were born in New Zealand, in April 2013 and August 2015.
On 19 November 2018, Immigration New Zealand declined to grant the husband a further Essential Skills work visa.
The wife and children’s associated visa applications were also declined in November 2018.
The family filed an appeal in January this year.
In their appeal, the family said the wife’s New Zealand-citizen sister had serious health issues and was due to have major surgery for a pre-cancerous condition of her uterus.
The wife is her only family member in New Zealand and the family provide practical and emotional support to the sister and her family.
They argued that it was in the best interests of the children to stay in New Zealand. If they had to move back to Tonga they would have to live in overcrowded conditions with the husband’s family so the children would be impoverished.
The three sons were senior secondary school students who had been living in New Zealand for more than 10 years and had few memories of Tonga.
The 16-year-old son has significant hearing loss which would be dealt with in New Zealand.
The Tribunal said that if the family had to leave New Zealand, the sister and her family would be left alone to cope with the trauma of the wife’s sister’s forthcoming surgery and an uncertain future. They had an exceptional need for family support.
It found that the eldest children’s education would be severely disrupted if they had to return to Tonga.
“Weighing this record with the humanitarian circumstances relating to the needs of the wife’s sister and her family and the best interests of the three sons, the Tribunal finds that it would be unjust and unduly harsh for the appellants and their children to be deported from New Zealand,” the Tribunal said.
The Tribunal therefore ordered that the family be granted resident visas.
The main points
- The New Zealand Immigration and Protection Tribunal has ordered that a Tongan family be granted resident visas.
- The Tribunal found that they had proved exceptional humanitarian circumstance because it was in the best interests of the three eldest children to complete their education in New Zealand and the support the family provided to the wife’s sister, who was seriously ill.
