3000 overstayers could have cases reopened

Up to 3000 overstayers with New Zealand-citizen children will be able to file their cases for reconsideration, says an immigration lawyer.

"I don't expect there to be a flood of appeals, but I think there will definitely be renewed interest now after the Supreme Court decision," said lawyer Richard Small, who is organising an immigration clinic for the Tongan Community in Onehunga this afternoon, where he expects the issue of overstayer appeals to be "quite high" on the agenda.

A Supreme Court decision last month involving two Chinese overstayer parents with citizen children highlighted legal flaws in the way immigration officials dealt with the issue.

The court upheld the appeals in both cases, and formally dismissed the Immigration Minister's cross-appeal.

Former Immigration Minister Tuariki Delamere, now an immigration consultant, is in Samoa to advise former overstayers there that they may be able to appeal their removal from New Zealand.

Mr Delamere will offer to take anyone who wishes to appeal on as a client, and said he had discussed the overstayer issue with lawyers who said there are issues that could well open the door for people.

Immigration New Zealand said Mr Delamere was offering false hope.

"Mr Delamere is unnecessarily raising people's hopes," says Graeme Buchanan, the Department of Labour's head of legal services.

"The decisions involved cases about specific families and were made on those terms."

Mr Buchanan said he would be very surprised if the court's decision offered any hope for overstayers who had returned to Samoa.

"Mr Delamere says that the Supreme Court ruling means decisions going back 15 years can be reviewed, but the Immigration Act makes it very clear that any decision has to be challenged within three months."

Mr Buchanan added that any challenge by an overstayer would be an expensive process, because they wouldn't qualify for legal aid.

Meanwhile, immigration watchdog group Kiwi Immigration Watch said the potential loss for the New Zealand taxpayer "by way of compensation for over nine years of wrongful deportation" could amount to millions.

"The sheer scale of the problem could dwarf the compensation shouldered already by ratepayers now being paid out to victims of leaky homes," said spokesman Allan Hughes.

CITIZEN CONFUSION

* Children born in NZ before 2006 attained automatic citizenship, but some have been removed from the country with their overstayer parents.

* A Supreme Court judgment in April involving Chinese overstayers says Immigration New Zealand must consider the best interests of the citizen children in the cases involved.