Experts warn of ‘Covid refugees’

Immigration New Zealand has received at least 14 “Covid refugee” claims, cases experts say could test the boundaries of immigration law.

Two are a father and son from India who were arrested in October for overstaying, and are in jail pending deportation. They had been in New Zealand without valid visas for five and eight years.

The pair claimed asylum on arrest, citing the Indian government’s failure to control the pandemic, which would put their lives in danger if they were sent home.

Asylum seekers cannot be deported until their claims are processed.

The father has since withdrawn his refugee application because of deteriorating mental health in prison, says his immigration adviser Tuariki Delamere.

The fear of Covid-19 and infectious disease will not normally bring a person within the definition of a refugee or protected person, says an INZ spokesperson.

To qualify, an asylum-seeker needs to demonstrate a well-founded fear of being persecuted for race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion.

“It will be interesting to see how the Refugee Status Branch processes these cases,” said Raj Pardeep Singh of Legal Associates, whose services focus on ethnic communities.

“If you look at Indian data the recovery rate is very high.”

Laurent says giving protection status to people because of Covid opens the floodgates to millions of people in hundreds of countries.

Meanwhile, there are three new cases of Covid-19 in managed isolation and a suspected case on a boat that docked in Tauranga.

Of the three new cases, two are active cases and one is historical.

Of the two active cases, one arrived on December 7, tested positive and was taken to the Auckland quarantine facility. Another person arrived on December 3 from the UK via the United Arab Emirates. They too have been been transferred to the facility. The historical case arrived on December 2 from the United Kingdom via Singapore. The person is in a Christchurch quarantine facility.

Two previously reported cases have now also recovered, so NZ’s total number of active cases is 55.

A suspected historical case of Covid-19 has been detected on the CTG Cobalt, which had docked in Tauranga, but was not considered a threat.