A third of rejected asylum cases overturned by appeals tribunal

WELLINGTON: An appeals tribunal has overturned rejection decisions in a third of all asylum cases it has heard in the past year.

The Immigration and Protection Tribunal has also upheld appeals by more than one in three people due to be deported.

In residence appeals, 286 people were successful and another 64 were found to have special circumstances and were referred to the Associate Minister of Immigration.

The tribunal’s annual report for the last financial year showed the number of appeals on hand was the lowest in its history.

That meant almost all appeals could be allocated for a decision or hearing as soon as they were received and prepared.

One notable example where that has not been the case is that of Czech drugsmuggler Karel Sroubek, who appealed against his deportation in early 2019.

A search of the tribunal’s 2020 decisions show the Covid19 pandemic was mentioned in 93 of the 232 deportation cases it decided last year, as overstayers and criminals fought to stay in New Zealand.

The tribunal was formed a decade ago and replaced four separate appeal bodies covering refugees, removals, deportations and residency applications.