The last two weeks have been an awful time for our family, as we struggled to get urgent information from the NZ Immigration Samoa Office in Apia on the status of our VISA applications to enter New Zealand and spend Christmas with families that we have not seen for more than 2 years due to COVID border closures. After many emails and failed telephone calls, we were forced to cancel our flights and bookings. All the excitement leading up to yesterday morning, turned to tears and disappointment, at a system which really is not catered for our Samoan people, and can only be described as the third world and discriminatory treatment of our people.

We submitted our applications in November, and more than a month has gone by and not a single notice or a single reply back to emails on their contact list has been received, to at least tell us of the status of our applications. Phone calls were met with the same response, that VISAs were now processed in other branches across the Pacific such as Fiji and Tonga. According to the officials our applications were outside of Samoa office’s control. We even tried to see them face to face, but the office remains closed to the public under COVID19 restrictions. Restrictions which have been lifted, and yet we are still being forced to stand outside their office and face the hot swelting sun in the early morning hours, and some people in the crowd in front of the office mentioned that they were soaked by the rain a few days before, while waiting for responses to queries. At least set up some temporary shelter and seating for the public that frequent their doorstep to seek help and information. 

We have seen many people venting online regarding various NZ Immigration services and processes, such as VISA applications that are now all online, how the quota this year was processed and drawn, and others. Additionally, there are numerous videos on social media of Samoan travelers being delayed numerous times due to Air New Zealand cancellations. In these videos you see the elderly and the young sleeping on the chairs and floor of the airport, and some can be heard asking for food and drinks. 

Many questions come to mind. Why are we being treated this way? Why, having accessed enhanced technology, is the service worse than it was before? Why hasn’t New Zealand improved services to cater for our people, after shaking hands and promising improved and enhanced partnership and extended support to the Pacific Region? Why do we feel that we are getting the hard end of the stick? 

One person mentioned that NZ Immigration receives many applications during the festive season. Hence why they have to gap the number they process. The website states that they have applications pending since August. Ummm okay. You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to know this NZ Immigration. You!! after putting us through this tedious VISAs process for decades should know that by now. Our people travel to NZ and vice versa from November to February to visit families. It’s the only time we can take off work and when schools finish. Yet! You have done nothing to improve this? You don’t try to finish off all the outstanding VISAs from the year in order to meet the rush in the last quarter of the year? Another excuse was that the Samoan Quota was also this month putting a lot of stress on resources and manpower. Why then did you decide to run the Samoan Quota at the busiest time of the year, which will require all resources? You don’t take up extra staff? You don’t try to make things manageable, yet you scr** us over (pardon the lack of a better word). 

The online portal displays limited information. It doesn’t offer a near real time status of your application. It only says, “Submitted”. Even for approved VISAs it displays “Submitted”.

Another response was that we should not have bought our tickets until we have received the VISAs. One of the requirements is proof of outward-bound travel. You need to pay to get a ticket in order to prove you have invested in an outward-bound ticket, an itinerary isn’t proof. In addition, the special sales for airlines only open up in November and December every year, if you don’t grab these quickly, you will end up paying for much more in mid to late December, and this is a risk families and groups are forced to take, thank you Air New Zealand for being so inconvenient. The reason for the complaints is that this has always been the case in previous years that people have had to travel. But never have we faced this problem that we are facing now, because we were always able to talk to the office directly and get information on what is needed for the VISAs applications to be expedited. It is only Samoa, what is NZ afraid of from our people? Who is going to be a champion for our people to say, NZ, enough is enough?

I guess, there is nothing much we can do. The holiday has been spoiled. The NZ Immigration Apia cannot do much as the headquarters in Wellington call the shots. All we are asking is for the NZ Immigration to pull up its socks and be a bit more responsible, responsive, and respectful to our people. I hope our Cabinet Ministers and Hon. Prime Minister hear the calls from our people, and ask New Zealand to help our people with these immigration, quota and travel woes, so that a few families do not have go through our ordeal in the new year.  

Anonymous 

New Zealand

Note: The name of the author is being withheld to protect his identity and further victimisation