Woman’s deportation completely inappropriate: ministry
Immigration New Zealand is reviewing its deportation processes after a woman, who had gone to Police with an assault complaint, was deported for overstaying.
She was deported after Immigration New Zealand, which is part of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), established she had overstayed by about five years.
But MBIE’s chief executive Carolyn Tremain said that was “completely inappropriate” given the Police investigation into her criminal complaint.
The woman was subsequently granted a six-month visitor visa to sort out her immigration status and has returned to the country. Ms Tremain said she was concerned about a number of decisions made by Immigration New Zealand recently and had asked Mike Heron QC to conduct an independent external review into deportation processes, which was expected to take about four months.