10 Feb 2017

No action against Indian students until next week, lawyer told

4:49 pm on 10 February 2017

The lawyer for a group of Indian students who have been ordered to leave New Zealand because of their visa fraud says no action will be taken until the minister has reviewed their cases.

no caption

Five of the students facing deportation. Photo: RNZ / Bradley Ambrose

Nine students and one child have taken sanctuary in Ponsonby's Unitarian Church in a final bid to stay in the country.

Immigration lawyer Alastair McClymont had a meeting with senior Immigration New Zealand officials this morning.

He said he received assurances that nothing would happen to the students for the next few days.

Mr McClymont held a meeting with senior immigration officials this morning where they confirmed the Associate Immigration Minister, David Bennett, was looking at their cases.

He said he hoped the Associate Minister would make a decision about the students sometime next week.

Immigration NZ said the meeting with Mr McClymont was private and it did not consider it appropriate for it to publicly discuss what was said there.

Immigration Minister Michael Woodhouse has previously said the students needed to leave New Zealand and anyone who submitted a visa application was ultimately responsible for ensuring the information on it was correct - no matter who filled it out.

Get the RNZ app

for ad-free news and current affairs