Turawaho Hemopo, his fiancée, and their three children, who live in Brisbane, are frantically attempting to return to Aotearoa after learning of his mother's terminal cancer diagnosis.
Because of their unusual circumstances, they hoped they would be eligible to return and apply for a position at MIQ, but the procedure has left them trapped, broke, and with the recommendation that one of the children be removed from the application.
Hemopo of Ngāti Haua says he got a Zoom call from his parents in April informing him that his mother had been diagnosed with cancer.
“We booked all our flights for December 16. We gave up our places of work, we gave up our lease on our home and then obviously they closed the borders,” he says.
Hemopo and his fiancee committed to moving home and rebooked and applied for an emergency MIQ room with enough savings to last them a month. To meet immigration criteria they submitted all their documentation to justify their return home.
Paperwork
“We gave them Mum's medical letter from the doctor, Passports, visas, and bank statements which showed our financial hardship. We had to show them that we had left our jobs … We had to show them our lease agreements … "
According to Hemopo, he even had to prove his relationship status to Immigration New Zealand by showing them a photo from his Facebook page of when he and his fiancee got engaged
“That was a bit of a hard one … we also gave them proof of our wedding venue.”
After a medical report outlining his mother's sickness was refused, Hemopo was compelled to contact his mother for more exact data, such as his mother's life expectancy, which he didn't want to know.
“I got to read the letter. That was the first time I'd seen it. That was the first time I'd seen how long my mum had to live. It was tough.”
Yet another step back
To make matters worse there are immigration discrepancies when it comes to children who are whāngai (Māori adoption).
Immigration New Zealand - Border and Visa Operations sent Turawaho a letter outlining the following:
- We notice that Turawaho is not the biological father of Vincent.
- Please provide relevant custody evidence (for example, adoption papers) to show the relationship between Turawaho and Vincent.
- Otherwise, we will need to remove Vincent from the application.
Hemopo says, “Whether he is biologically mine or not, he depends on me to survive for everyday life. We put kai on the table, we put a roof over his head and the clothes on his back.”
After their third attempt, they received notice of their application.
“We got declined, for both category 2E and 5A, we got declined. Pretty much saying there wasn't enough supporting evidence.”
No matter what, Hemopo is committed to getting home.
“Mum's number one aye, she's always been my rock … she's the queen of our whānau.”
With the announcement from our Prime Minister yesterday saying the New Zealand borders will be opening to Australia at 11.59pm on Sunday, February 27, they might still have a chance to come home in time to see his mum.