Auckland Uni professor is ‘essential’ to top 100 in limbo separated from his family in Singapore

Professor Fernando Oliveira promised his family in Singapore that he would not venture out of Auckland without them.

Enjoying the beauty of a country that separated them seemed like a kind of betrayal.

Instead, the world of the 47-year-old has grown narrower since arriving in New Zealand on January 29 last year.

By his own sanity, his perspective does not extend beyond the close of each day in his third-floor office at the University of Auckland (UoA) School of Business.

The phone calls to his wife and 14-year-old daughter are now just a weekend event because talking every day “turned into undue emotional strain” and a reminder of their mutual isolation.

“I used to plan a lot, what to do in the future and how to start a new life and now I just have no plans because the uncertainty is too great,” Oliveira said.

“I stopped looking for schools, I stopped looking for a place to live. I just focus on doing my best every day and trying to make it as perfect as I can. But that’s it. I don’t plan anything.

“You need to learn to live alone and be completely self-reliant. Then there is learned helplessness.”

Oliveira is one of thousands of international workers who have failed in their attempts to bring their relatives into the country since our borders were closed on March 19 of last year.

What is particularly irritating about this for Oliveira is the number of visa applications that rely on another temporary visa holder already in New Zealand and that have been accepted.

Between March 1, 2020 and February 17, 2021, 32,873 temporary visa holders were approved to enter New Zealand.

1,383 international citizens were rejected, leaving an approval rate of 96 percent.

Oliveira is in the crowd that hasn’t even processed her dependent visa application.

After being recruited to the UoA Graduate School of Management at the National University of Singapore, Professor Oliveira had planned to bring his wife and daughter to Auckland in mid-2020 after their school and work obligations concluded.

The visa with which he entered New Zealand was canceled after the borders closed, nullifying his ability to bring dependents through it.

He says his visa applications for his wife and daughter made in early May last year have never been answered.

Passing on this state of affairs to one of their colleagues at the University of Auckland caused them both personal and professional anxiety.

Oliveira was a valuable asset in the world university rankings game, and if his situation does not change, he leaves few options other than leaving New Zealand and abandoning his new professorship.

A letter from Auckland Business School teaching fellow Jo Wright on Oliveira’s behalf to his local Epsom MP, David Seymour, described the concern and sense of injustice felt by his colleagues.

“I am not sure if the level of knowledge, experience and credibility required to obtain the title of professor is generally understood; it is significant and it is important, because people like Fernando are essential for the University of Auckland to maintain its ranking in the top 100 universities in the world, “Wright wrote.

“Imagine then how unfair it seems when we read the article in the NZ Herald about 700 dependents of America’s Cup participants receiving visas,” Wright wrote.

“I appreciate that the academy is not as cool as the America’s Cup, but this seems to be a serendipitous process of issuing dependent visas indiscriminately, and I think it’s about time the government held accountable.”

Oliveira is equally cynical about visa approvals for America’s Cup dependents.

“Yes, if you are rich you can always receive special treatment. That is not new. It has always been that way,” Oliveira said.

“I am paying taxes and I have no rights. I have no property rights. I have no right to have my family with me. I do not understand the discriminatory treatment.”

Oliveira says the type of visa the university advised him to obtain for speed and ease – a work-to-residence visa – talent from an accredited employer – may have been part of the problem.

“What bothers me most about this is the discriminatory treatment,” says Oliveira.

“Colleagues of mine who arrived around the same time, just before the academic year starts, somewhere in January usually. They had applied for a permanent visa, they were able to bring their families. [into NZ]. “

Immigration NZ clarified in a statement that they have “stopped processing most applications from people who are abroad unless they meet the strict border exception criteria.”

“We still have a number of temporary migrants who are on the ground who have submitted visa applications in the last year, these are being processed and that is what is reflected in those figures,” Immigration NZ said.

“The numbers may include some people who are on the high seas, but their application will only be finalized if they have been granted a border exception allowing them to travel here.”

Despite this, Oliveira says he doesn’t feel particularly unfortunate.

“I probably consider myself one of the luckiest in the midst of what is happening. So I don’t feel particularly bad about myself. There are many people with larger families and fewer resources who are suffering more than I am.”

But the feeling of injustice towards Oliveira, who is originally from Portugal, is clear.

“I can express my displeasure in many words, but it doesn’t help. I think the government has been very hypocritical in handling public perception of the problem in a way that pleases its goals, and its goals are not always health care.”

“If you are here on a work visa suddenly, you are more likely to bring the virus. If you have a New Zealand passport, you can go abroad, to Portugal and vice versa, and you are somehow protected from the virus. It is not fair . “