A convicted fraudster who lived in New Zealand under a false identity for decades should get another chance to stay, a tribunal has ruled.
The woman, who is now 51, was born in Samoa. In 1991, she assumed the identity of a Tokelauan national – a member of her extended family – and travelled to New Zealand on her passport.
As Tokelau is within the Realm of New Zealand, those from the territory are citizens by birth and can hold Kiwi passports.
The woman, identified only as MX in a recent decision from the Immigration and Protection Tribunal, has lived in New Zealand ever since.
She later sponsored her Fiji-born husband to come to New Zealand using her assumed identity. He has since become a citizen and the couple had three children, who are also citizens.
The woman's fraud was not discovered until 2000, when the relative whose identity she'd assumed applied for a New Zealand passport.
MX was convicted of using a false passport and presenting a misleading arrival card at the airport. She was sentenced to 100 hours' community service and served with an order that she be removed from New Zealand.
However, in the 20 years since, she has remained in the country and mounted a series of appeals for a residency visa, saying she had 'nothing to return to” in Samoa.
She told the tribunal she had built 'strong ties” to Aotearoa over the past 30 years – she and her husband own a home and a rental property in Auckland and run a commercial cleaning franchise here.
She had 'more than paid the price” for her fraud and since served 'almost three life sentences of stress and uncertainty because of her lack of residence status”, she claimed.
In examining her case, the tribunal noted the woman did have strong ties to Aotearoa – however, she was only able to build them because she unlawfully entered New Zealand, then remained here for decades.
Despite being ordered to leave in 2000, she stayed and 'further established and entrenched her family life and settlement here”.
The woman's ongoing disregard for the integrity of the immigration system was 'disappointing”, the tribunal said.
2 comments
And there we have it...
Posted on 12-01-2023 18:11 | By groutby
.....in the first and last sentences in the article, pretty much sums up our justice system. I'm not saying she should not be allowed to stay, I am more aiming at the whimpy standing the tribunal take in breaking the laws of New Zealand in the first place and being "disappointed" with her integrity, and yet been given another chance, hardly an example for other lawbreakers to need to be concerned about is it?
So, in 2000...
Posted on 13-01-2023 14:04 | By morepork
... nobody checked to see if she had gone, after being ordered to? Looks like she was not the only one who misbehaved...
Leave a Comment
You must be logged in to make a comment.