Transgender migrant gets to stay in NZ

A transgender woman from the United Kingdom who found happiness in New Zealand has been spared deportation, despite her visa having expired.

The woman, not named because of privacy concerns, said she suffered ‘‘tranny bashing’’ in her homeland to the point of experiencing panic attacks and severe depression.

She followed family to New Zealand in 2009 and set up a company; its failure to turn a profit meant her application for residency last year was rejected.

Fearing a return to ‘‘toxic’’ life in the UK – away from her family – she lodged a humanitarian appeal against her deportation with the immigration and protection tribunal. She told the tribunal she felt ‘‘happy, settled and accepted’’ here, while in the UK she had faced repeated psychological and physical attacks for being transgender.

She had adjusted her life in the UK to avoid people; strangers had been known to ask ‘‘what’’ she was, grab her breasts, beat her up and threaten to kill her, she said.

On September 17 – exactly a year after her last work visa expired – the tribunal granted the woman a residency visa.

Now in her 50s, the woman began her transition from male to female in her early 40s. She said she had reached a choice between transitioning and committing suicide after decades in the closet.

She went on to study engineering and got a job with a large multinational company, where she said she was regarded as a ‘‘freak’’ by many of her colleagues – even before she officially transitioned.

After being diagnosed with gender identity disorder by a psychologist, she embarked on a 12-month real life test where she dressed and lived as a woman before undergoing gender reassignment surgery.

Her family fully supported her transition, but colleagues and the general public were hostile. While the woman complained to her company’s human resources department about one particular bully, he threatened to ‘‘rip her head off’’ if she did so again, she said.

Incidences of stalking and verbal abuse in the streets made her feel unsafe in public spaces and she began suffering panic attacks.

The woman decided to join her parents in New Zealand three years after they moved here to be with her other sister, who had already migrated. She set up her own business and bought a house with her family; she said she also found she could participate in community activities without harassment or discrimination – leading her to believe New Zealand was a far safer place for transgender people than the UK.

But the woman’s bid for residency was rejected after her second long-term business visa expired and it was found her company was not profitable. As part of her appeal to the immigration and protection tribunal, she submitted medical records from 2004 to 2009 that traced her depression, anxiety, and inability to cope in public.

The tribunal ruled that deporting the woman to the UK would be ‘‘unduly harsh’’, as she would be returning to ‘‘the very same, toxic environment’’ that gave her severe mental health issues. It also deemed her background and qualifications would make a positive contribution to New Zealand.

‘‘In her home in New Zealand [she] has finally found a place where she feels safe, happy, settled, and accepted,’’ tribunal documents read.