Hamilton (New Zealand), July 7, 2019:
By Gurbir Singh:
A 27-year-old former student, whose family in Punjab (India) borrowed large sums of money to fund his study in New Zealand and was to be deported for overstaying, has been granted a year’s temporary work visa to earn and repay his father’s loans.
Earlier in March 2019, this person's application for a refugee claim “for fears of harm from a money lender, to whom his father owes money”, was declined by New Zealand's Immigration and Protection Tribunal.
The Tribunal has now upheld his appeal against deportation for his humanitarian circumstances, especially arising out of threats to his family from money- lenders back in India. If deported, he would be unable to repay the bulk of the debt, it said.
Accordingly, the Tribunal granted him a 12-month work visa with eligibility to apply for extension after its expiry.
His father in Punjab is a government employee and is due to retire in August this year.
At the time of sending his son to New Zealand to study, the father had borrowed a large sum of money from relatives and later from money-lender who was threatening the family with physical harm and kidnapping, etc if money was not paid back.
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Gurbir Singh is a freelance Journalist based in New Zealand & is also Editor of www.newsviews.co.nz/