We are parents of a group of minor students coming from overseas. Our kids all have been living and studying in New Zealand for at least two years. Some of our kids are here by themselves, and some got accompanied by one part of the parents. We are submitting this petition humbly pleading you can help our families reunite by granting us residence eligibility so that our partner could come to New Zealand.

Before the pandemic explosion, many of us have traveled freely between New Zealand and our home country to visit our families during school holidays. Our family could also come to New Zealand to visit us. But the epidemic has left us in trouble as if we were trapped on an isolated island. We could not leave New Zealand cause that means our kids will have to stop their schooling, go through compulsory quarantine, get left behind in their learning, and worse, will not be able to return here in the foreseeable future.

With the current border closure, neither could we travel back to our home country as before, nor could our partners come to visit us in New Zealand regardless of how much they miss our kids. Even in situations like the pass-away of our family members, we could not go back cause if we leave now, that means our kids would need to terminate their schooling in New Zealand. Over the past two years, many of us have experienced extremely challenging situations when we desperately needed help but could not find any way out. And no one knows how long such a situation would last. Both adults and children in our families have suffered a lot of anxiety, depress and even mental health problems. Those audio/video calls could not replace hugs and face-to-face communication with parents. The long-lasting separation of a family also has a severe impact on parenting relationships. The missing of intimate love from one part of parents has caused issues for their growth and personality development.

We would humbly plead with the government to give special consideration to families like us. We are not greedy to request a grant of a residence visa for no reasons. We have chosen New Zealand as the second home for our kids and would like to see our kids happily grow up on this beautiful land.

If there is any chance the government could share more mercy to these underage kids, and families forced to be separated by the Covid-19 like ours, please consider expanding the scope of the upcoming One-off Residence Visa to guardian visa holders like us. We are more than happy to continue to keep our kids as international students as long as we could give them some certainty that we are all members of the five million community, and our kids can have their long-missed father or mother coming to reunite with them as normal families do.