Covid 19 coronavirus: frustrating partnership visa system for couples divided by a pandemic

By Gill Bonnett of RNZ

New Zealand citizens and residents say the government’s solution to reuniting them with their overseas partners has had unexpected, unfair and dangerous consequences.

Some are crying badly over a two-tier system that allows border waivers to partners from richer countries that require visas.

Those left out of the waivers say they are turning to flying into Covid-19 danger zones to live, classify visas and return to their partners.

It has been an emotional rollercoaster for some couples, who were caught up in the saga of arranged marriages that culminated in the government’s decision to grant visitor visas to couples abroad.

A change in association visa decision-making rules last year, and comments from then-coalition partner New Zealand First led to that decision, and a re-evaluation of up to 1,300 rejected visa applications.

Many couples were given the opportunity to live together in New Zealand, with the partner on a visitor visa, and use that time to fulfill the requirements for a partner visa.

It seemed like a relief, and many couples thought they were nearing the end of their wait to get together, but it’s partly that solution that has led them to be another year apart.

When the border was closed, partners preparing to join their resident spouses or New Zealand citizens had only visitor visas, which have already expired, so subsequent changes to allow exemptions for partner visa holders did not they have helped them.

A man, who asked not to be named, has been waiting two years for his wife to join him from India after their arranged marriage in December 2018.

His wife finally got a visitor visa in February, but then the border was closed. He decided to return to his home country and apply for his border waiver while he was there, but his visitor visa had expired by then, and his annual vacation had also run out, so he couldn’t wait for the necessary approvals.

It cost him $ 6,000 in flights and quarantine (his employer had allowed him to leave at a busy time) and he returned empty-handed.

“Somehow my employer let me go and made arrangements for me for four weeks, so they were also quite disappointed that she couldn’t come with me. It’s happening for the third time. I’ve come home three times, but three times. times failed.

“So you end up spending all your savings, a year’s savings, and then you come back to no avail.”

Another New Zealand citizen, originally from India, said that there was a group of 2,000 affected couples on Facebook and that it was becoming more common for the New Zealand couple to go to the country of origin to find their spouse.

“Now everyone is traveling back to India,” he said. “That is the only option that Immigration leaves us: travel back to India, when you get there, you apply, you wait a couple of months until they are approved and you travel together with your partner. How stupid, why do you want to risk two lives? Why do you want a New Zealander to travel back to India to find their partner and come back, what is the logic behind that?

His wife had quit her job and sold their house in preparation for a flight in March, but the border was closed.

“Finally her visa expired in October. Right now 17 months ago, now we are living apart right after we got married. I’m still fine here because I have a job, but she has to lose everything, her job, her house and everything.

“It’s very difficult, she is very emotionally attached. When Chris Hipkins spoke about extending the border closure for 18 months, she cried on the phone. Every other day she just cries, I cry here because we can’t see the future now. The government does not give us any date, saying that this is the plan, or this is the moment when we will start to accept something. “

No explanation was given as to why Australian partners and visa-waiver countries had been allowed a border waiver, he said.

When his wife applied for a critical purpose border waiver, it was denied because he would not accompany her, and the refusal also raised doubts about their relationship, despite being acknowledged in the earlier visa approval.

“They allow the member to travel only from 60 countries with visa exemption, so if you are from the United States or the United Kingdom, your member can travel alone. But if you are from India, which is not an exemption from country visa or some other Asian countries, the only option they give you is to go back and find your wife.

“There are so many stories on the Facebook group. People sold their houses and quit their jobs, sold everything, went back to India, and they are waiting three or four months for the visa to be issued and they come back here.”

That put not only health at risk through Covid infections, but homelessness and unemployment as well, he added.

Immigration attorney Alastair McClymont said many people’s hopes had already been raised and frustrated twice after last year’s arranged marriage saga.

“It was the people from South Asian countries in particular who got stuck because they tended to go back and find partners abroad because they weren’t living in India,” he said.

“Your partner applied for a visa, but they were not allowed to enter, so the government created a culturally arranged marriage visa category. It was claimed that that solved the problem, but that was not really the problem at all. It was not addressed. of arranged marriages, but that the couples did not live together after the marriage, because the sponsor returns to New Zealand Those same people are now also trapped by travel exemptions.

“It was not considered a partnership, it is considered a relationship. And if you consider it a relationship, you are only granted a general visitor visa. And if you are granted a general visitor visa, then you will not qualify for the travel exemption. He is discriminating against those kinds of relationships. “

RNZ asked Immigration Minister Kris Faafoi when would those people find out about the waivers and why partners from visa-free countries were being treated differently.

In a statement, he said that Covid-19 had created huge disruptions, damage and risks.

“I feel sorry for those families,” he said. “But the Government must keep the top priority to prevent the virus from spreading through our communities. Tight border controls, along with managed isolation, quarantine and testing systems are key to that and underpin immigration policy, while Covid remains a clear and present global threat.

“Where we can, and it is deemed safe to do so, we are making adjustments to immigration environments. Relaxing the rules around New Zealand partners and dependents from Australia and visa-free countries was a change that was deemed manageable, by as was the decision to allow entry to some normally residing temporary visa holders.

“We will continue to review the settings but, at this time, I cannot give specific time frames or settings where further changes can be made, such as with general visitor visas.”