A Syrian-born family is considering leaving New Zealand as none of their relatives are allowed to visit them here.
And a 7-year-old Auckland girl has written to immigration officials begging them to let her grandfather visit from Syria.
About one in every 10 visitor visas and multiple entry visas for parents and grandparents are rejected, but some nationalities face a harder battle to see family than others.
Figures show 85 per cent of Russian applicants will get a visitor visa - for Syrians, that falls to 35 per cent.
Among the rejection letters were ones sent to Bashar Barmada, a senior lecturer and academic programme manager at Unitec, and his wife Hala Albakour, a senior software engineer.
“Like it is not enough to see our home country completely destroyed, but it is not possible to invite our parents to visit us here in New Zealand, and it will cost us a lot of money if we wish to travel to see them,” said Barmada.
“This December we will travel to Dubai and Turkey for the kids to see their grandparents - my mother will come to Dubai and Hala’s parents will be in Turkey. The estimated cost will be around $30,000, and we cannot do that every year.
“Most of this money could have been spent in New Zealand if the parents can visit us here.”
Hala Albakour, top left, with her husband and parents. Photo / Supplied RNZ
The couple emigrated from Syria with their two sons in 2014 as skilled migrants and now also have a 2-year-old daughter.
They applied last August for Albakour’s parents, Mayada Kerdmsesto and Noudar Albakour, to visit.
But they received an email in November from INZ saying it had found a fault in its online systems, which had stopped processing parent/grandparent visas. It converted thousands of applications to general visitor visas, which have different criteria.
“Of course, this is not what we want, as being from Syria and applying for a visitor visa this is a straight rejection from immigration, and this is what happened in the end,” said Barmada.
In a letter to Albakour’s parents, who are retired and aged 69 and 77, INZ told them as they were “unemployed” they did not have a strong incentive to return home.
They were asked to send updated land and property ownership evidence, but they could not as they would have to visit Syria in person - and they now live in Turkey with their youngest son, where they have residency.
The rejection letter said INZ could not be sure their Turkish residency visas would be renewed, and “current security issues in Syria are not conducive to voluntary return”.
The family had also applied for Barmada’s mother to visit before the Covid-19 pandemic, and both of those applications were rejected, too. Decisions on temporary visas cannot be appealed.
“We have many friends from other nationalities who have no problems inviting their relatives to visit them. We feel very sad and angry against such discrimination, only because we are originally from Syria,” he said.
“Now we are seriously thinking to leave New Zealand to a country close enough to our parents or to a country where our parents can easily visit us.
“It is very sad to even think like this, but we and the kids have the right to see our parents in our country, New Zealand, and someone is taking this right from us.”
INZ said it was carrying out its role as a regulator.
“We appreciate that this is a difficult situation for Mayada Kerdmsesto, along with her family in New Zealand,” said its general manager Richard Owen.
“Mrs Kerdmsesto’s application for a visitor visa general was declined on April 20, 2023, because she had not satisfied the immigration officer that she was a bona fide applicant intending a temporary stay in New Zealand.”
Bashar Barmada and his family. Photo / Supplied RNZ
Nahed Alhaj said the last time her daughter Tala had seen her grandfather was when she was 2.
Tala wrote a letter to INZ explaining she spoke to her grandpa almost every day on the phone and missed him a lot.
“I want Grandpa to see me play soccer and see how good I am at swimming,” she said. “I want Grandpa to take me to school. I want to go to the beach and the playground with him.”
Tala as a 2-year-old when she last saw her grandfather. Photo / Supplied RNZ
She last saw him and other family five years ago in Syria, but Alhaj told RNZ it had been a dangerous visit they could not repeat.
She said they applied for her father-in-law to visit before the pandemic - given that he had a wife of 40 years, a daughter, house and job in Syria, they thought he could prove he would not overstay his visa - but he was declined.
They are reapplying and considering how to have Tala’s other grandparents visit in the future.
Logistics are hard, such as accessing documents in Syria, the postal service and having to go to a different country for an immigration medical.
In a statement, INZ said it takes into account any circumstances that may discourage temporary visa applicants from returning to their home country after a visit.
Only 10 applications from Syria for parent/grandparent visas had been submitted since the borders reopened and it could not provide a breakdown of how many were approved or declined because of privacy reasons, given the small numbers.
The letter Tala wrote to Immigration New Zealand. Photo / Supplied RNZ
It was unable to say how many in total of the parent/grandparent visa applications converted into visitor visas last year were rejected, although it does know that 3200 were approved.
It is looking into the figures further under an Official Information Act request.
