Shivani Arora and her husband Kuldeep have lived in New Zealand for more than ten years. They are now successful business people and have raised three children, all of who have followed their footsteps.
Their eldest son Abhinav won the ‘Best Young Entrepreneur of the Year’ trophy of the Indian Newslink Indian Business Awards last year.
Despite decades of working hard to build their business and to create a strong financial foundation for their family, Mrs Arora was frustrated by her inability to sponsor her mother for Permanent Residence in New Zealand.
“My application was rejected simply because I had more siblings living in India than in New Zealand,” she said.
Her story is similar to thousands of other Indian migrants, who brought skills, education and investment, worked hard and contributed thousands of dollars in tax every year, simply to be told that they could not care for their own parents in their adopted country.
There are many others who have had to suffer a long waiting period before their applications to sponsor their parents were approved.
Our clients were extremely frustrated. Despite having more than enough funds to support their parents in New Zealand, they were forced to wait for up to three years to bring their parents on Residence Visas, even when those parents themselves often had hundreds of thousands of dollars to invest in this country. These policy changes now reward those sponsors who have the financial ability to support their parents and parents who have something of value to contribute.
Mrs Arora strongly believes that the Indian community must stand for values of independence and self-reliance.
She said, “The Government announced that the old family policy has been abolished because so many migrants were claiming welfare benefits. This was an embarrassment to the immigrant community and I do not want Indians in this country to be associated with a policy that contributed to welfare dependency.”
“I am absolutely delighted that the government has finally seen fit to reward Indians living in New Zealand by allowing them to sponsor their parents if able to afford to do so and to leave behind this nonsense about the numbers of children and where they live”.
“I look forward to July 2012 so that finally, I can sponsor my mother for Permanent Residence and fulfill my dream of supporting her after all that she has done for me and my family,” Mrs Arora added.
Alastair McClymont is the Principal of McClymont & Associates Barrister & Solicitors. Immigration is among his specailities.
