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New Zealand to deport 18-year-old Navjot Singh over parents' visa overstay: 'I don't speak Hindi'
Despite growing up in New Zealand, Singh lacks legal status and fears returning to India, where he does not speak the language and worries about job prospects.
New Zealand government is set to deport an 18-year-old Navjot Singh back to India, who was born to Indian-origin parents who overstayed their visa.
Navjot, who was born, raised in New Zealand and never left the country, will be deported under the country's current immigration laws.
After he was born in 2007 in Auckland, Navjot Singh's father was deported when he was just five days old. Five years later, his mother also lost her legal status, RNZ reported.
Singh, who got to know about his situation when he was eight years old as he learned that he will never get access to education, healthcare and basic rights in New Zealand, is now scared to leave his country.
He is anxious to head to India as he does not even speak any Indian languages. "I don't think I'll survive in India," he said. “I don't speak Hindi. I've heard that people with higher qualifications can't find jobs there, so what would I do,” RNZ reported quoting Singh as saying.
The decision comes after the country passed a law that ended birthright citizenship and said those who born in New Zealand after 2006 to parents without lawful immigration status are not legal in the country.
The government said that Singh does not have any legal status in the country although he was born and raised there.
“Inhumane”
According to a report by RNZ, immigration lawyer Alastair McClymont, who is representing Singh said New Zealand needed to rethink how it treated child overstayers.
“It is incredibly inhumane to deport kids who have grown up here to a foreign country,” McClymont said adding that the government should align its laws with those of countries such as Australia and the United Kingdom, which grant citizenship to children who have lived there for 10 years.
“That would resolve the problem for children born to parents without a valid visa or on temporary visas,” he said.
McClymont had received a letter from the immigration minister's office that said cases such as Singh's should be handled through ministerial requests or the immigration protection tribunal.
However, he said that process made no sense for someone born stateless.
"You can only appeal to the tribunal within 42 days - so Navjot would've had to lodge an appeal before he was even 42 days old, which is impossible," McClymont said.
New Zealand's Supreme Sikh society stands with Singh
President of New Zealand's Supreme Sikh society has extended his support to Navjot Singh.
“When somebody told me he was 15 years old and had never been to school, that's something I found very difficult to digest,” Singh said adding that he is a part of New Zealand and a part of their community.
“What harm will children like Navjot bring to New Zealand? We shouldn't punish these children because it wasn't their fault,” RNZ quoted him as saying.
A spokesperson for immigration minister, Erica Stanford said there was no policy work underway on people born in New Zealand after 2006 to parents without legal status, but that individual cases could be considered through the Immigration Protection Tribunal or ministerial intervention.
