A Tuvaluan overstayer has avoided deportation 26 years after an Immigration Service doctor said he would be a burden on the health system and recommended he be turned down for a residence visa.

A tribunal hearing the case found there was no evidence the man, who has a disability, had imposed any burden on the public health system in the past quarter-century.

The Immigration and Protection Tribunal said instead there were "exceptional circumstances of a humanitarian nature" that meant the man should be allowed to stay in New Zealand.

It would also be "unjust or unduly harsh" to deport the man, who is now in his 50s.

It ordered the man be granted a residence visa.

The man's name was suppressed by the tribunal along with any particulars likely to identify him. This means the nature of his significant disability cannot be published.

Following the doctor's assessment in 1996, the Immigration Service sought information through an immigration adviser about the man's family in New Zealand and any humanitarian grounds on which he might be allowed to stay, but none was provided.

Despite his disability, he has been able to work – even though he has done so unlawfully since his residence application was turned down by the Immigration Service in November 1997.

The man was described by family members, an employer and his workmates variously as gentle, kind-hearted, humble, hard-working, reliable and trustworthy.

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He first came to New Zealand in 1995 with his mother, whom he looked after while she battled cancer.

His mother died in 2018 and his sister says he still "cries a lot at the loss".

"The appellant has been living in New Zealand most of his adult life," the tribunal's decision said.

"His family is all here … He is a much-loved part of a close-knit family long settled in New Zealand.

"His deportation from New Zealand can be expected to cause significant emotional distress to himself and sister, and to a lesser extent his nieces and other family members here."

The tribunal said the man relied on his family for his everyday needs.

"In contrast, in Tuvalu, there is nobody to care for him."

Letters of support from two church leaders also expressed concern for the man were he to be deported to Tuvalu, given the adverse impacts of climate change.

The low-lying Pacific nation is considered particularly vulnerable to climate change and rising sea levels through flooding and through salt water penetrating ground freshwater supplies.

- Ric Stevens, Open Justice