KEY POINTS:
Fijian immigrant Anup Kumar Sharma hopes the spirit of Christmas will weave its magic and see his 4-year-old son Prashant Amitesh reunited with his mother.
Prashant's 27-year-old mother, Reshma Prasad, was deported to Fiji in February after immigration officials revoked her residency for failing to inform them of her 2001 marriage to Mr Sharma.
The couple had wed as she was waiting for her residency permit to be approved.
Prashant, says he misses his mother "every minute, every day" and his biggest wish is "for daddy, mummy and me to be family again".
"We used to laugh a lot, but now everyone only cry, why can't we all be together and be happy again?"
Mr Sharma, 30, says Prashant has not stopped asking about his mother since his return, and cannot understand why they cannot be together.
Ms Prasad applied for New Zealand residency in June 2001 under the family dependent child rule, as her mother was already living here. However, she married Mr Sharma on October 29 that year - before her residence visa was granted on September 24, 2002.
Immigration officials say Ms Prasad would not have qualified for New Zealand residency under that category if she had informed them of her marriage to Mr Sharma.
But Mr Sharma insisted: "It was truly a genuine mistake, it just didn't cross our minds that we had to inform immigration about our marriage. We could have just delayed getting married if we really wanted to deceive them. The decision to deport Reshma has not only shattered our family unit, but also turned life into a living hell for us."
Mr Sharma also faces deportation because his residency application was linked to Ms Prasad. His appeal is before the Deportation Review Tribunal. Mr Sharma said his immigration status now also meant he could no longer work as a service station attendant, and was dependent on family for financial support.
Prashant - who had been at Omana Kindergarten in Papatoetoe - has not been to school since February, when he was sent to Fiji to live with his mother.
But a family friend had to bring him back to New Zealand after he struggled to adjust, and had problems with his health and education.
Mr Sharma said he would lodge a "plea from the heart" this week to
Immigration Minister Jonathan Coleman, begging him to reconsider immigration's decision.
His first appeal was rejected by then Associate Minister of Immigration Shane Jones in November.
Mr Jones suggested: "Ms Prasad may choose to apply for residence under the Sibling and Adult Child Policy once the five-year ban resulting from the removal order comes to an end."
But Mr Sharma says the suggestion to wait another five years is just "too ridiculous". Immigration consultant Tika Ram, acting for Mr Sharma, says he hopes that Mr Coleman, as a new minister, "will have a heart".
"We have let criminals stay on in New Zealand in the past, so why do we have to destroy a perfectly happy family - breaking up a mother and her New Zealand-born child - just because of a simple mistake?"
