“My son is healthy and happy, not sick or on any medication. If he comes to New Zealand, he can be part of community activities that are not available in Fiji,” said Loriza Ali, a single Fijian-Indian mother and New Zealand citizen, appealing to reunite with her 19-year-old son, Nathan Lyzal Amhaz, who was born with cerebral palsy in Fiji.
Ali, who visits Lyzal three times a year, says she has been trying to bring him to New Zealand for the past ten years. She adds that his visa applications have been repeatedly rejected.
“Every time I try to get Lyzal a visa, it gets rejected based on incorrectly assumed costs to services. Lyzal is happy and healthy,” she emphasised.
Immigration New Zealand applies the Acceptable Standard of Health (ASH) policy to determine whether an applicant can work or study in the country. The policy considers whether an individual could place “significant cost to, or demands on, New Zealand’s health services” and the potential impact on the education system when granting residency to people with disabilities.
Taking care of Lyzal largely on her own since his father left when
"I cannot conceive due to complications from his premature birth," she said.
"I have struggled with domestic violence," she added.
Returning to Fiji, Ali said, will now be hard after building a life in New Zealand.
Lyzal becomes upset each time she has to leave for New Zealand.
“Mamma is here, yes beta…” she says softly to Lyzal in an old video, shared with The Indian Weekender, recorded as she prepared to leave for New Zealand.
“Lyzal lives with my ageing mother, and all my sisters have moved from Fiji,” Ali said. After Ali's father passed away in 2022, she says there is no one left to take Lyzal to his physiotherapy sessions, as her mother cannot drive.
She added that being home-bound has affected his mental health.
“I am now appealing for a ministerial intervention in this matter,” Ali said.
Ali has launched an online petition through Action Network and Migrants Against the Acceptable Standard of Health Aotearoa (MAASHA), calling on Associate Minister of Immigration Chris Penk and the House of Representatives to grant an exemption to the Acceptable Standard of Health requirements and allow Lyzal to live in New Zealand with her.
"In a welcoming Aotearoa, no young person such as Lyzal would be separated across borders from their parents because of immigration discrimination. But that's what's happening for Lyzal who is stuck in Fiji due to the ableist Acceptable Standard of Health immigration requirements," Áine Kelly-Costello, organiser with MAASHA, told The Indian Weekender.
"We want to see Assoc Minister Penk grant an exemption to the ASH requirements so Lyzal can join his mother who is now an NZ citizen here in Aotearoa," they added.
Having completed his special school in Fiji, Lyzal has limited access to community activities for children with special needs.
“In New Zealand, my son can be part of community activities,” Ali said.
Sharing that all his cousins have also left Fiji, Ali fears he will be left alone.
“Whenever his cousins come back and show him photos, he gets so excited, he starts to smile. He wants to be with us,” she said.
Looking ahead, Ali says her hope is to be reunited with her son.
“I became a citizen in New Zealand in 2022, and I am an honest, hardworking citizen of this country. Please help me unite with my son,” she added.
Áine Kelly-Costello, organiser with MAASHA, pointed out that the impacts of this policy leave families in limbo for years, and fighting it is extremely costly, exhausting, and stressful.
"It's time for all political parties to step up and commit to abolishing the Acceptable Standard of Health requirements in their election manifestos," they said.
Earlier this month, The Indian Weekender reported on a similar case involving a Kiwi-Indian family appealing to bring their son with Down syndrome to New Zealand. Click here to read.