‘ Not a single day without pain or sorrow’
Weekend Herald inquiry Chinese parents’ appeal for easy entry rejected by Immigration
Chinese families who lost an only child in the Christchurch earthquake make emotional plea to our Government.
Chinese parents who lost their only child in the February 2011 earthquake are pleading for lifelong visas so they can visit their children’s graves.
They want the right to enter New Zealand every year to tidy the graves in accordance with the Chinese tombsweeping tradition where mourners clean gravesites and burn incense to bless the dead.
Their request has been declined because New Zealand’s immigration policy does not allow for long- lasting visitor visas.
Next Tuesday marks six years since the Christchruch earthquake. Nearly half of the 185 victims died in a language school on the fourth floor of the collapsed CTV building, including 23 Chinese students.
Last October, the Weekend Herald travelled to China to meet families who lost their only child in the quake.
These parents were the first generation affected by China’s onechild policy and they lost their only child in the CTV building, the only building that collapsed completely on February 22, 2011.
“The pain is immense,” said ZhiPing Lai, the father of victim Chang Lai, 27. He had a heart attack that he said was caused by “sadness and sorrow” after his daughter’s death.
“I would like to ask the New Zealand Government whether it’s pos- sible to grant us a long- term entry permit or an annual visa exemption for the convenience of tomb sweeping,” he said, speaking through a translator in an apartment complex in Guangzhou. To these parents, some of whom now live off a $ 40- a- week pension and have been left homeless since their children’s death, the bureaucratic visitor visa application process i s daunting and the fees unaffordable. Lai has visited New Zealand twice since his daughter’s death. The first time, only days after the quake, he was granted entry under special circumstances with official reference letters from government officials in Guangdong.
He returned to China when his daughter’s legs were recovered from the rubble.
A year later, Lai flew back to New Zealand when the rest of his daughter’s body was discovered. A local Chinese reporter, who spoke English, helped him with the visa paperwork.
“My daughter was buried in a cemetery near Christchurch Airport,” Lai said. “To tell you the truth, I have not come back to visit her grave since then. It’s partly because of my worsening health situation, but what makes things more difficult is the procedures of entering and leaving New Zealand are troublesome.”
Chinese citizens could apply for three- year visitor visas, said Immigration Minister Michael Woodhouse, but policy “does not allow for exemptions for lifetime visitor visas”.
So every time Lai wants to visit his daughter’s grave he has to go through the application process again.
“What we wish for is just to mourn our beloved family member,” he said.