Just when thousands of migrant workers and their families are celebrating a one-off residence visa pathway announced by the New Zealand Government, an Indian woman is battling possible deportation for failing to disclose a traffic offence in her visa application.
According to a report published in NZ Herald, Kajal Chauhan, 28, wife of a New Zealand resident Shiv Kapoor, is facing deportation after Immigration New Zealand rejected her visa application for failing to disclose a traffic violation she had committed in 2019.
According to NZ Herald, Kajal received an email on Wednesday, advising her that her last-ditch attempt for a visa under section 61 of the Immigration Act after she overstayed her visa had been declined.
“If you do not leave New Zealand voluntarily you will be liable for deportation,” the email said.
On 30 September, New Zealand announced a new one-off residence visa pathway for some temporary work visa holders currently in New Zealand to roughly 165,000 migrant workers and their families stranded in the country through the pandemic.
ALSO READ: New Zealand launches new ‘2021 Resident Visa’
Shiv Kapoor, a New Zealand resident, married Kajal Chauhan on 22 October, 2020, in an arranged marriage. Kajal then applied for applied for a partnership work visa with Immigration New Zealand in November 2020. However, the visa was declined because, according to INZ, Kajal had a traffic offence which was not disclosed in a previous visa application and therefore she did not meet character requirements.
According to Kajal, who first came to New Zealand in July 2016, she was driving home to Auckland from Huntly in September 2019 when she exceeded the maximum speed limit. She later pleaded guilty to the charge, provided a letter of apology, paid a fine and got disqualified from driving for six months.
According to Kajal, she did not try to hide this fact from INZ in her application but just forgot to mention it at the time of making the application. After five years in New Zealand, Kajal said her ties are now with New Zealand and that she would not be able to take being separated from her husband.
