A teenage Fijian national with epilepsy and significant delayed milestones, is being deported from New Zealand, leaving him to being separated from his family who have said they may not go with him.
The family moved to New Zealand in 2023 for a better life but immigration officials have ruled the 15-year-old can not stay because he would burden the country’s special education system.
Although his family is his only support for daily functioning, they are prepared to remain in New Zealand where they earn a higher income.
However, Rajendra Chaudhry, the lawyer for the family, who can not be named says that separation was not the outcome they wanted and they were prepared to fight to have him stay.
He says his mother is in tears all the time.
Chaudhry says they will have to make some hard decisions if this matter is not satisfactorily dealt with and he believes the rules are quite onerous.
The decision by the Immigration and Protection Tribunal New Zealand detailed the teen has epilepsy but it was well-managed with daily medication and he has not had a convulsion for three years nor has he had to see a doctor in New Zealand about the condition.
He also has intellectual or cognitive impairments which present as significant developmental delays. The decision stated that while there has not been a formal diagnosis, a New Zealand psychologist found his symptoms related to the diagnostic criteria for autism spectrum disorder.
The teen has no foundational reading, writing or maths skills in Hindi or English and would require significant support with learning and social and adaptive skills.
NZ Herald reports that information from his former primary school in Fiji, a Fijian education adviser, and a New Zealand educational assessment detailed he required full supervision for safety reasons, struggled to follow the standard curriculum, struggled socially and to pay attention, and was short-tempered and aggressive in the classroom.
It also stated he was a calm-natured boy attached to the people who supported him.
The decision recorded he was born in Fiji and lived there with his parents and sister until his father moved to New Zealand in 2022.
The following year, the teen and his mother and sister arrived in New Zealand as holders of six-month student and work visas granted based on their relationship with the father.
Later that year, the father was granted a three-year work visa and the teen, mother and sibling made further temporary visa applications, which were granted to the mother and sister.
However, Immigration New Zealand declined the teen’s application, ruling he had an unacceptable standard of health.
It was believed he would likely impose significant costs or demands on New Zealand’s special education services.
He is not currently in school.
After the teen’s interim visa expired mid-last year, leaving him living in the country unlawfully, his family launched a humanitarian appeal to the Immigration and Protection Tribunal New Zealand against his liability for deportation.
Chaudhry submitted it was in the teen’s best interests to stay because if he must return to Fiji, he would be separated from his family.
The tribunal has granted the teen a six-month visitor visa, which expires in May, so he and his family could make the appropriate care arrangements for him in Fiji.
[Source: NZ Herald]
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