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Indian students thank supporters, prepare to leave NZ

Author
Newstalk ZB Staff/NZ Herald,
Publish Date
Sat, 18 Feb 2017, 4:37PM
Supporters gathered at Ponsonby's Unitarian Church to farewell the Indian students who will leave voluntarily this week. (MP Julie Anne Genter).
Supporters gathered at Ponsonby's Unitarian Church to farewell the Indian students who will leave voluntarily this week. (MP Julie Anne Genter).

Indian students thank supporters, prepare to leave NZ

Author
Newstalk ZB Staff/NZ Herald,
Publish Date
Sat, 18 Feb 2017, 4:37PM

The group of Indian students who fought for months to stay in New Zealand have thanked their supporters at a gathering this afternoon as they prepare to leave the country.

The eight students say they were unwittingly given fraudulent visas by dodgy, India-based education agents and had taken refuge in a Ponsonby church.

They have given up their battle against deportation and will return to India voluntarily.

Migrant Workers Association spokeswoman Anu Kaloti said the students will leave voluntarily by Wednesday, but their lawyer is still fighting for them to be allowed back into the country.

"They have protection until Wednesday 22nd of February so they can't be arrested for deportation until Wednesday, but they will have to leave whether the lawyer is successful in achieving that or not."

The students held a farewell gathering this afternoon which Kaloti described as "an opportunity for the students to say goodbye and thank you to all of their supporters".

"It's also a good way of stating the sanctuary at Unitarian Church has officially ended," she said.

Their lawyer, Alastair McClymont, said he had a commitment that Immigration NZ was willing to discuss a mechanism which may enable the students to reapply for NZ student visas once they returned to India, without suffering the five-year ban on new visa applications that normally applies to people who are deported.

McClymont said the arrangement was "a win" for the students.

"If they were deported, they would be prevented from ever applying to come back to New Zealand or any other country."

He said the arrangement applied to the eight students who have taken refuge in the Unitarian Church in Ponsonby since Waitangi Day, and two other students in Christchurch.

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