A New Zealand-born girl with a severe neurological condition has been granted residency as an exception by Immigration Minister Erica Stanford, after facing the possibility of having to leave the country where she was born and has spent her entire life.
According to a report by the New Zealand Herald, the girl, born in 2019 to South African parents, was diagnosed with a serious neurological disorder when she was eight months old. Her condition requires specialised medical treatment that experts say is unavailable in South Africa, with doctors warning that she would “certainly die” without access to it.
Her family, who had already secured permanent residency in New Zealand, had been trying to resolve her immigration status after discovering she did not hold a valid visa. An application for her residency was declined by Immigration New Zealand (INZ) in June this year because she did not meet the required health standards.
The family appealed the decision to the NZ Immigration and Protection Tribunal, which upheld INZ’s legal assessment but found that special circumstances justified an exception, the New Zealand Herald has reported.
In a recently released decision, tribunal member Larissa Wakim confirmed that the Immigration Minister had granted the girl residency.
The girl's parents and older brother moved to New Zealand from South Africa in 2018 after her father received a work visa. Following her birth in 2019, she was initially considered to hold a visitor visa linked to her father's work visa, which expired in June 2021.
Her father later applied for residency under the accredited employer category, including his wife and son in the application. Although he declared his daughter, she was not included because documentation from South Africa had been delayed during the Covid-19 pandemic, as reported by the New Zealand Herald.
The family intended to apply for her residency once the required documents arrived. However, they discovered in July 2022 that she did not have a valid visa.
A request for a visa exception was eventually made in May 2024, and the child received a six-month visa the following month. She had remained in New Zealand unlawfully from June 2021 until the interim visa was granted.
The family's application for her residency was declined in June this year after medical assessments concluded that her condition was likely to place significant demands on New Zealand's healthcare and special education services, the New Zealand Herald has reported.
The tribunal heard that the girl uses a wheelchair, requires tube feeding and depends on specialised treatment and medication that are unavailable in South Africa. Her medical history also recorded 28 admissions to Starship Children's Hospital since 2019, including several for respiratory illnesses, the New Zealand Herald.
Medical experts warned that losing access to the treatment could prove fatal. They also described international air travel as an “unsurmountable medical risk” because of the severity of her physical impairment, as reported by the New Zealand Herald.
The family challenged INZ's decision in July, and the appeal was prioritised because of the child's medical vulnerabilities.
Although the tribunal concluded that INZ had acted correctly under immigration law, it considered whether exceptional humanitarian circumstances warranted allowing the girl to remain permanently in New Zealand.
The family's representative argued that removing the child would be unjust or unduly harsh, emphasising that she was born in New Zealand and had never lived anywhere else.
“In summary, the representative submits that the appellant was born in New Zealand and has never left. She is a ‘Kiwi’,” Wakim said in her decision.
The tribunal accepted medical evidence that the treatment keeping the girl alive was unavailable in South Africa. It also acknowledged a psychologist's assessment that the prolonged uncertainty over her future had caused “significant psychological distress” for the child and her family, as reported by the New Zealand Herald.
Wakim recognised that granting residency would make the girl eligible for publicly funded healthcare and special education services until the age of 21, with possible welfare support later if required.
Despite the potential costs to public services, the tribunal concluded that the child's welfare and need to remain with her family outweighed those concerns.
“Regardless of these costs, the tribunal has no hesitation in finding that the appellant’s best interests are served by remaining permanently in New Zealand with her family.
“The appellant was born here, and New Zealand is the only home she has ever known,” the New Zealand Herald has quoted.