Indian Woman Granted NZ Residency After A ‘Rare’ Ministerial Intervention

A young woman arrived in New Zealand with love, hope, and plans for a future with her husband. Within a year, she was widowed, alone, and uncertain whether she would be allowed to stay in the country she had begun to call home.
And then, against the odds, the Minister chose to intervene.

This is the story of an Indian woman who was granted a resident visa — despite having no partner in New Zealand — after the government exercised its discretionary powers, a rare and extraordinary remedy in the wake of a personal tragedy.

“After the husband’s death, the woman was struggling financially and emotionally when she came to us last year,” said Avleen Kaur Ahuja, the immigration adviser from Kiwiana Immigration who handled her case.

News from The Indian Weekender delivered to your inbox every Friday. Subscribe Now!

The woman, originally from Nainital, had come to New Zealand on a visitor visa in August 2022. She lost her husband on 17 December 2023, just months before they were due to submit their partnership-based residency application.
His sudden passing left her not only in deep grief, but also in a legal limbo — her path to residence abruptly cut short.

She approached Kiwiana Immigration in August 2024, overwhelmed and unsure of her options.
At the time, the woman had transitioned from a Partnership Visa to a Student Visa in order to work 20 hours a week and support herself.

“It was a very sensitive case,” Avleen recalled. “It took time for her to collect all the required documents, check her background as a first-time applicant, and explain to her the next steps.”

"Our request focused more on the humanitarian grounds, given the circumstances, rather than strict immigration policy," said Avleen.

"We also highlighted her emotional connection to New Zealand, which had become her home."

The formal request for Ministerial Intervention was submitted on 23 October 2024 by Kiwiana Immigration. The response came nearly seven months later — and it was good news.

“I have carefully considered your representations. I have decided to grant a resident visa [...] as an exception to instructions,” read the Minister’s letter dated 6 May 2025.

Avleen explained that while the woman met all the genuine partnership requirements, her partner was no longer alive — the only missing piece in an otherwise legitimate case.

“In my five years of practice, I’ve only seen two such requests approved,” she said. “We only took nominal charges to file her case.”

Unlike most visa applications, which are submitted online, Ministerial Intervention requests are made offline — on paper — and are considered under Immigration Act 2009.

This discretionary power allows the Minister to personally intervene in exceptional cases where all other pathways have closed and where the public interest justifies an alternative decision. The Minister is not obligated to consider or grant these requests, and only a small number are ever approved.

What moved this case forward, Kiwiana Immigration said, was not just documentation, but the woman’s resilience and her deep connection to New Zealand.

“Her story was told not only through paperwork, but through the strength she showed and her intention to continue calling this country home,” said Avleen.

This was not just a visa approval. In a moment of compassion and rare discretion, the system paused to listen.

And in doing so, it gave a grieving woman something more than legal status — it gave her a future.

“Even when the usual paths are closed, doors can open when the right voices speak up, and when decision-makers choose fairness over formality,” Avleen shared.

News from The Indian Weekender delivered to your inbox every Friday. Subscribe Now!