By Jane Luscombe
A tribunal set up less than two years ago to streamline immigration appeals has run up a huge backlog of cases.
Lawyers say it's unacceptable and are demanding more staff to cut the year-long wait faced by hundreds of people.
Terminally ill Elize Liebenberg has 10 days before she's supposed to leave the country. The South African lodged an appeal when her residency application was turned down, but it'll be nearly a year before it's considered.
“I'm not going to live in 12 months,” she says. “I won't be here any more. All I'm asking is just to give me my residency so I can have a bit of peace.”
Her family live here and want to nurse her during her final months – a time, they say, should be spent without worrying about deportation.
She's not alone. A document supplied under the Official Information Act showed 1094 others were waiting 310 days for their appeals to be heard.
The Ministry of Justice says it's getting the numbers under control.
"While delays will be frustrating, in general appellants cannot be deported while the appeal process is underway," it says in a statement.
That hasn't stopped 361 people leaving the country while their cases were mired in the paper jam. Five had received deportation orders and the rest left before it came to that.
When the Immigration and Protection Tribunal began, the Government said it had a critical role to play in New Zealand fulfilling its international obligations – a role that's under scrutiny.
“In an ideal world, yes, they should perhaps increase the number of members by 50 percent in order to cut through the old case work because of the fact that it really does create hardship for certain classes of people,” says Simon Laurent of the New Zealand Association for Migration and Investment.
It has created hardship for Elize Liebenberg, who says she is losing faith in the country she calls home.
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