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Farzana Masouleh describes herself as a strong person and “a go getter”.
But sitting in her home in Lower Hutt , more than 14,000 km away from her parents in Iran, she feels helpless after a declined visa application for the pair to visit landed in her inbox last month.
“You don’t think it’s going to happen to you,” Masouleh said. “It’s like a nightmare.”
The mother is expecting her second child in March and waited five months for a response from Immigration New Zealand (INZ) after submitting her parents’ application in October.
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Their home was undergoing renovations in preparation for the visit and a minivan sat in their driveway, intended to fit the whole family.
The visa application for a Parent and Grandparent Visitor Visa was declined on the basis that her parents had “not provided sufficient evidence of your incentives to return to Iran”, according to the letter from INZ.
However, Masouleh said there was “no such question” in the application.
JUAN ZARAMA PERINI/Stuff
Ihab Sinno, Farzana Masouleh, and their daughter Elsa Sinno in their Lower Hutt home which they have been preparing for Masouleh’s parents’ arrival.
Masouleh spent a month gathering evidence for the application including proof of her parents’ relationship – a marriage of 40 years, as well as names of their siblings and parents, some of whom were dead.
She had included a letter explaining their situation under “family declaration”, a letter from maternity care, and evidence of having other siblings living in Iran, also adding to get in touch if they required any other information.
Her parents were required to do a 20-hour round trip from Rasht to Tehran for their medical examination which had a three-month expiry. It meant Masouleh had a day to re-apply for the visa to avoid her parents having to travel again when it was declined.
JUAN ZARAMA PERINI/Stuff
Farzana Masouleh’s parents’ visa was declined on the basis that they had not provided sufficient evidence they would return to Iran.
It was another $281 and time gathering more evidence – of which INZ was unclear on what exactly to submit.
“If they asked me, I would have been able to provide it but now I’m going through another time-consuming, costly [process], and I’m still not sure what the outcome is going to be.”
JUAN ZARAMA PERINI/Stuff
Farzana Masouleh is worried her daughter, Elsa, will forget her grandparents if too much time passes by before the family is reunited.
Her husband Ihab Sinno said in his experience overseas, there was usually a communication window in which immigration officers could ask questions and was disappointed they had not been given that chance.
In another similar case, an Iranian couple’s visa was declined by INZ who cited “the circumstances in your home country are such that you may be discouraged from returning”, RNZ reported.
INZ general manager of border and visa operations Nicole Hogg would not directly say whether Masouleh’s parents’ visa was declined on the same grounds.
JUAN ZARAMA PERINI/Stuff
The couple say there should be communication channels to be able to provide more evidence or answer any questions before a visa is simply declined.
“At the time of their application, more evidence was required to demonstrate their incentives to return home to Iran,” she said.
“When a temporary visa application is being considered, any circumstances that may discourage applicants from returning to their home country when their visa expires are taken into account.”
Hogg said the newly submitted application would be prioritised but could not guarantee the outcome.
It had been four years since Masouleh last saw her parents, during which time her first child, Elsa, was born.
The Covid-19 pandemic halted the couple’s regular visits back home since Masouleh moved to New Zealand in 2015 to do her second PhD and Sinno came in 2013. The pair met here and were both now citizens.
Masouleh had not told her family that the visa was declined, just that extra documents were being required.
“That’s impacting us. I really relied on my Mum to be around.”
In their living room her cheerful two-and-a-half-year-old sang: “grandparents are special” in between hiccups.
JUAN ZARAMA PERINI/Stuff
Farzana Masouleh says she’s unsure how long she wants to stay in New Zealand, even though she is now a citizen calls it home.
Masouleh worried her daughter’s memory of her grandparents would be lost. Spending time with them was also an opportunity to grow Elsa’s vocabulary in Farsi.
Through tears, Masouleh said she now called Aotearoa home.
“The distance is not easy, especially if you want to have good ties with your family, the way that we always had, but immigration policies don’t make it easier for us, living here.
“Now after this event, I’m really questioning whether I need to continue living in New Zealand, because you can’t plan your for your future based on what has happened.”
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