Overview
- Associate Immigration Minister Chris Penk declined Navjot Singh’s request for residency via ministerial intervention, leaving him at risk of removal to India.
- Singh, 18, was born in Auckland in 2007 to parents without lawful status, has never left New Zealand, and has never attended school due to a lack of documents.
- His father was deported five days after his birth and his mother lost legal status in 2012, with Singh saying he has no support in India and does not speak Hindi.
- A spokesperson for Immigration Minister Erica Stanford told RNZ there is no policy work underway on post-2006 cases, pointing instead to the Immigration Protection Tribunal or case-by-case discretion.
- Community leaders and politicians, including the Supreme Sikh Society’s Daljit Singh and Green and Labour MPs, urged a review and longer-term residency pathways similar to those in Australia and the UK.