A Tuvaluan overstayer who has been in hiding for a year to avoid deportation will finally be reunited with her children after winning a long battle to stay in the country.
Fefiloi Ana, 37, received a letter this week from Immigration New Zealand offering a nine-month work visa and an invitation to apply for a residence visa.
The letter says Ana has until December 16 to pay $300 for the visa. But it warns her case would not set a precedent for people in similar circumstances.
Shedding tears of joy yesterday, Ana was "happy but overwhelmed".
"I was just crying and crying and thanking my lawyer for helping me. I also thanked God for helping me during this time."
The widow and her three children, Ranford, 13, Mine, 12, and Misipeka, 8, went into hiding just before Christmas 2010.
Ana had come and gone from New Zealand repeatedly for more than a decade and last entered the country in 2008 on a visitor's visa.
She was faced with leaving her children in the care of New Zealand authorities to get an education and proper healthcare or taking them back with her.
In Tuvalu they would face poverty and climate change, she said.
The main island, Funafuti, is sinking as seawater seeps up at king tides. Other problems include rubbish, overcrowding and drought.
The children, whose father died in a motorbike accident in 2004, were born in New Zealand and are entitled to stay as citizens. They had to leave their Lower
Hutt schools to prevent immigration officials tracking their mother down.
Her two elder children have been living with a family member outside Wellington and she has been hiding with other relatives and her younger child in Porirua.
"Once [the two older children] finish school they're going to come and be with us," Ana said.
She was unable to travel back to Tuvalu for her mother's funeral in February and had only left the house for necessary appointments and for occasional visits to her children.
"I always stayed at home, do the cooking and cleaning the house."
Friend and Porirua city councillor Litea Ah Hoi helped Ana remain in New Zealand for the sake of her children.
"I couldn't be more elated and just so happy for those kids that the outcome is in our favour," Ah Hoi said.
Ana had not asked for government assistance and planned to start working, possibly as a cleaner, as soon as possible.
Richard Small, director of Pacific Legal Immigration Lawyers, said immigration officials initially refused to reconsider Ana's case, even though she had extenuating circumstances, including the impact on her children which was assessed by a psychologist.
"After all that effort and hundreds of hours we got a 'no' stamp."
He escalated the case to the national office, which decided to look into the matter and eventually offer the visa.
Small criticised the system which enabled immigration officers to reject cases without investigating individual circumstances.
"The problem is that people in her position are seen as low value and high risk."
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Tuvaluan overstayer wins right to stay with children
2:33 PM
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