Robbie Lanauze, Nadja van Osch and their three children while they were living in Spain Photo: Supplied
A Chatham Islands-bound family says their four-year immigration battle has left them in a "bureaucratic hamster wheel".
New Zealander Robbie Lanauze and his Dutch wife Nadja van Osch have waited more than four years for her visa.
The father-of-three, who was born on Pitt Island, said the first visa showed no criteria for when they had to arrive in the country.
A second residence visa showed her visa would expire in the year 9999. She was then threatened with deportation and that was only resolved last week.
Immigration New Zealand (INZ) admits the second residence visa was granted in error but maintains the first one correctly set out the visa information.
The couple had been overseas and travelling before deciding they would settle in the Chathams with their three children, near to Lanauze's mother, brother and his family.
"We'd wanted to build a house for quite a while and we had the land sorted. We had everything sorted, ready to go. We wanted to live in the Chathams and maybe partly in Indonesia as well. But everything's sort of been up in the air for the last few years to be very honest."
Paperwork was hard to find as partnership residence visas need proof such as joint utility bills which they struggled to find, but eventually got the visa.
"We sent this passport to London. It got verified, they sent it back. And we assumed that that was what was needed to activate the partners residence visa. We had the letter printed out to show that she was allowed in New Zealand. And then they said no, sorry, you're not allowed to board this flight because you don't have a visa."
A screengrab of the visa granted through to the year 9999. Photo: Supplied
They were told van Osch was three days past the date when the visa had to be used - 12 months after it was issued. They maintain they were never told that criteria, and there was a missing attachment in an email they were sent. RNZ has seen a copy of the email.
"We did everything in our corner to adhere to the rules and regulations, but unfortunately it was, I'm guessing, a technical glitch or just a a clerical error of some description and we never got that information.
"I'm just going to keep rattling everyone's cage and pull every trigger I can and just keep doing a song and dance until someone with authority can actually look at the case and go, 'OK, there was a mistake made, we never sent you that email attachment, this is a fault from our department and no fault of your own, sorry, here's your visa.' And then we can carry on our merry way."
They were told to apply for a second or subsequent resident visa (SSRV) but that was also a mistake.
Party like it's 9999
"The lady on the phone explicitly said to us - I spoke to her in depth many, many times and I said look we want her to be able to work, live and study in New Zealand indefinitely, we have three children. We want to build a home and if we're going to put our money into a house in New Zealand, my wife needs to be able to confidently put her life savings into an investment in the island where she knows that she's not going to get kicked out of the country or her time will run short.
"She said that the second and subsequent visa gave exactly all the same conditions and it meant the same thing, which we were like, OK, cool. We took her word for it, which was silly. We should have got it in writing."
It looked on the face of it as though they had been given a permanent residence visa - for an unusually long period of time.
"The visa said congratulations, you can work live and study in New Zealand until the year 9999 and I thought 'oh wow OK, no one's going to be around by then, but amazing. And we just thought it was just the way they do things. So we thought we had the same conditions and everything was sweet until we got a letter from immigration Resolutions saying that we are liable for deportation because of a clerical error."
INZ has now quashed the threat of deportation, saying it made a mistake, but maintains it made no error with the first visa.
"We understand that the possibility of deportation can be stressful, and we empathise with Ms van Osch and her family," said its acting director of visas Marcelle Foley. "We can confirm that Ms van Osch's deportation case was considered by a Delegated Decision Maker for the Minister of Immigration (DDM) this morning. The DDM has cancelled Ms van Osch's deportation liability, and a decision letter has been sent to Ms van Osch to notify her of this outcome."
She became liable for deportation as her visa was granted 'in breach of immigration instructions'.
Foley said her first residence visa granted in November 2022 clearly outlined the conditions of the visa including the latest date she could arrive, and its expiry two years later.
It's left a bitter taste for Lanauze, who said a family-of-five was a major addition to the small Chathams community of 600, especially as his wife's skills as a therapist are in demand.
"We've spent thousands on this. We just really do need to go back and hold them accountable for the first error, which was them not giving us the information about entering New Zealand within the 12 months. No-one looked at our case, we just seem to be knocking our heads against the wall and going around in circles and getting handballed from person to person.
"I'm no stranger to paperwork in different countries, getting stuff translated, dealing with bureaucrats and all that sort of stuff, but I have to say, dealing with Immigration New Zealand has been an absolute nightmare. I don't want to like get too worked up about it, but I wish I could just walk in there and crack some heads."
