A distressed Indian mum is clueless on how to remain legitimately in New Zealand along with her teenage daughter after her husband passed away halfway through immigrating to the country.
The life story of Neisha Tandon, the wife of 32-year-old Atul Tandon who passed away on December 20, 2017, while here on a work visa, has turned upside down with her visa due to expire in days, not weeks.
Ms Tandon has a teenage daughter currently studying in year nine in One Tree Hill College, whose visa also expires soon, leaving the family in limbo. The daughter who identifies herself as a Kiwi and sees NZ as her home has started in year four in school soon after arriving in NZ.
“I cannot go back to my home country.
“I have no family there to support.
“Essentially, I have nowhere to go,” Ms Tandon told The Indian Weekender sharing her story of the desperation of remaining in the country.
Atul and Neisha Tandon with their daughter in an old picture (Picture:Supplied)
The family had first arrived in NZ in 2014 from India with the long-term goal of studying, working and finally settling in the country.
The family had chosen NZ for its Kiwi tradition of welcoming people with open-heartedness and accepting people without any biases and prejudices, according to Ms Tandon.
“We saw New Zealand as our biggest hope when we first arrived here in 2014.”
That hope was shattered on December 20, when Atul Tandon, passed away in his sleep, possibly because of massive heart failure.
The hope could further be destroyed soon and possibly forever, should Ms Tandon fail to sort out her visa situation – a prospect that looks bleak so far.
The fact that the mother-daughter duo was in a destitute situation without much friends and family support, neither here or back in India, was evident when Atul expired and the family had no means to arrange for the funeral or for sending his body back to India.
The High Commission of India, Wellington, had to then intervene on a humanitarian basis and provide for the funeral services in Auckland.
The absence of support from friends and family, and notably the local Kiwi-Indian community, became further telling, in the following days, when Ms Tandon started scrambling to get back on her feet to sort out her visa situation.
Often, in the lives of new migrants, the first thing to worry about, or to resurrect, in the event of an unfortunate situation of death, is the visa situation.
In the case of Neisha Tandon, that visa situation stands threatened.
At the time of the death, Mr Tandon was working full time as Duty Manager in Pizza Hut on an employer-supported work visa.
Atul and Neisha Tandon's daughter (Picture supplied)
Ms Tandon was on a spouse-dependent work visa, which was due to expire in August 2018, and working full-time at Z Gas Station, whereas their teenage daughter studied in year nine in One Tree Hill College on a domestic student visa.
In desperation to resurrect her visa situation, which was partner dependent, she consulted a licensed immigration adviser, who rightly sought for visitor visa for the mother-daughter duo from Immigration New Zealand (INZ), with a plea that it will give time to them to sort out their lives.
Although technically correct, it seems compassion was missing, or little thought was given, in this immediate solution sought from the INZ.
As a three-month visitor visa, for a mum-daughter duo, who have recently struggled to arrange for husband’s funeral, would in no way have brought any respite, or even given some breathing space to them to plan anything else?
Probably the absence of support and right counsel from family, friends, and the local community at that stage was more telling than any other time after Ms Tandon’s life story went wrong.
INZ has approved the daughter’s visitor visa for three months, which expired on March 19, and they have reapplied since then, whereas the mother’s initial visitor visa application is still pending with them.
Atul and Neisha Tandon in an old picture (Picture: Supplied)
Uncertainty looms over the lives of the hapless mum-daughter duo.
Desperate action – writing to the government
In a bid to seek help from the government, Ms Tandon had approached several local MPs in government and opposition, ministers, and the Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern herself requesting urgent and compassionate assistance.
The Prime Minister’s Office had to rightly direct her to the office of Associate Immigration Minister Kris Faafoi, who was again not able to do anything as by then Ms Tandon had already filed a visitor visa application with the INZ.
The Associate Immigration Minister is the only person in government who can decide on any application on compassionate grounds.
However, some experts on immigration law have opined that Ms Tandon’s case for a mercy plea or compassionate view would not stand ground.
Till now, Ms Tandon had only received a call back from the electorate office of Jenny Salesa, Labour MP and the Minister of Ethnic Communities, assuring that someone would assist.
Clearly, and expectedly, there is more despondency and little organisation and direction in Ms Tandon’s actions to seek an appropriate visa.
Call to the community for help
A Givealittle page has been set up to seek community help to assist the mum-daughter duo (https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/neisha-tandon).
Please help me raise funds to financially support Neisha and her daughter
“The funds will be spent on getting Neisha a place to stay and living costs for Neisha and her daughter. Any additional funds will be used to help Neisha study and gain a New Zealand qualification and also for her daughter's schooling,” a post on the page said.