Runaround for health worker
A health support worker who has not been able to work for seven months due to an Immigration NZ bungle is still waiting to hear from the organisation.
Cristobal Reveco, a qualified support worker from Chile, has spent four years in New Zealand working as a support worker for the intellectually disabled at Hohepa and in the mental health unit of Auckland Hospital.
Late last year, Reveco and his partner, Bridget Gibson, contacted Immigration NZ to inquire about applying for a ‘‘Partner of a New Zealander Work Visa’’ which, if granted, would allow him to work lawfully for a year.
When discussing the matter with Immigration NZ they were told repeatedly that Reveco would not need to get his work visa extended for the interim period while waiting for his application to be processed.
When the Hawke’s Bay-based couple came to make the application in mid-November they were told by Immigration NZ that Reveco was in the country unlawfully because he hadn’t extended his work visa, which had expired on October 12.
By obtaining documents under the Official Information Act the couple was able to prove that they had been misinformed, and, in January, Immigration NZ granted Reveco a three-month visitor visa. That has since been extended to September due to Covid-19.
In February, they again filed an application for a ‘‘Partner of a New Zealander Work Visa’’.
They had yet to be contacted by anyone from Immigration NZ.
‘‘So for the past seven months and throughout the lockdown when there was a call for support workers, Cris has been on zero income and unable to work,’’ Gibson said.
‘‘I feel let down by my country. I feel embarrassed,’’ she said.
A spokeswoman for MBIE acknowledged Reveco had been supplied ‘‘some incorrect advice ... and apologises for the error’’.
Due to the error INZ had waived the fee for a special temporary visa, she said. ‘‘At alert level 4 visa processing was limited and focused on applications relating to New Zealand’s Covid-19 response. INZ understands the impact that Covid and our visa processing operations is having on visa holders and applicants,’’ she said.