No final decisions have been made in the case of a New Zealand-born 18-year-old facing deportation to a country he’s never visited, the Associate Immigration Minister says.
Daman Kumar, 18, was earlier told to leave the country or face a deportation order.
His parents have lived in New Zealand for about 24 years as overstayers. Kumar would face being deported to India — a country he’s never been to.
The teen’s case has been extensively covered in the media over the past several days.
A spokesperson for Chris Penk, the minister responsible for the final case decision, said in an update today he “will be considering advice on the matter”.
“No decision has yet been made by the Associate Minister. To date, decisions have been made by Immigration NZ officials,” they said in a statement.
“As is standard practice, the Associate Minister will consider all relevant factors in reaching a decision.”
Daman’s lawyer Alastair McClymont confirmed to 1News that immigration officials had undertaken not to serve a deportation order until Penk had made his decision.
The 18-year-old was previously told he had until today to leave the country voluntarily or be served a deportation order by immigration authorities.
Investigations and Compliance general manager Steve Watson said today Immigration NZ has not issued a deportation order to the family.
“We have reached out to the family’s representative and are committed to assisting the family to ensure they are able to settle their affairs before they depart New Zealand.”
It’s previously been reported that Penk had declined to intervene in the case. The minister also responded to criticism about the case over the weekend.
“I’m not getting into details of individual cases … but cases involving illegality are often considered in the context of fairness to those who have played by the rules,” he wrote.
Speaking to Q+A yesterday, Immigration Minister Erica Stanford said it wasn’t her role to intervene in the case, saying decisions were referred to the Associate Minister.
“That is the role of the associate minister, and that is up to him. I’ve had a look. I don’t know all of the details of the case, because it hasn’t come across my desk, so I’m not going to talk to the details of it.
“But broadly, there are rules in this country for making sure that people abide by the visa settings, and there are thousands of people every year who leave the country when they should and do the right thing.”
Stanford added: “There are rules in place, and there are options for people who are in these situations to leave the country and come back in, and be regularised on a visa.
“There are options.”
