MAIN INFORMATION
Aurelie Sobion, Switzerland.
Justin Sobion, originally from Trinidad & Tobago but currently in New Zealand.
Aurelie and Justin have been together since June 2013 and were married in April 2015.
Because of Covid-19, they last saw each other in February 2020.
They are currently 18,606 km apart.
Justin Sobion, originally from Trinidad & Tobago but currently in New Zealand.
Aurelie and Justin have been together since June 2013 and were married in April 2015.
Because of Covid-19, they last saw each other in February 2020.
They are currently 18,606 km apart.
STORY OF SEPARATION
“My feeling is that because I am married to a student visa holder, my family doesn’t count,” says Aurelie. She is stuck in Geneva, unable to return home to New Zealand to be with her husband, Justin, studying for a PhD there. “My family is less important than if I was married to a citizen. I find that hard.” International music acts, cricket teams, and film crews have been allowed into New Zealand. But, immigration has repeatedly denied Aurelie entry, despite her living there for nine months before the pandemic and holding a valid visa. "The time we have lost, no one will give that back," she says.
The couple has been separated for 14 months, disrupting both big plans and preventing them from being together day-to-day. With a 12 hour time difference, their daily phone calls are difficult to plan. "When one of us goes to sleep. The other wakes up," says Aurelie. "We are never in the same mood. Sometimes in the day, when I feel down, I would like to pick up the phone and call him, but I know he’s sleeping.” Justin could have ended his PhD and returned to Geneva to be with Aurelie, an option he seriously considered, but which she was firmly against: “There is no chance immigration will kill that too.”
The couple has been separated for 14 months, disrupting both big plans and preventing them from being together day-to-day. With a 12 hour time difference, their daily phone calls are difficult to plan. "When one of us goes to sleep. The other wakes up," says Aurelie. "We are never in the same mood. Sometimes in the day, when I feel down, I would like to pick up the phone and call him, but I know he’s sleeping.” Justin could have ended his PhD and returned to Geneva to be with Aurelie, an option he seriously considered, but which she was firmly against: “There is no chance immigration will kill that too.”
“The problem there is that you’ve got to show [immigration] that your humanitarian circumstances are exceptional. And when you’ve got a pandemic, if the new norm is to be split, being split then doesn’t meet the exceptional anymore, so you’ve got to have something over and above”
Katy Armstrong, Immigration Advisor
“The problem there is that you’ve got to show [immigration] that your humanitarian circumstances are exceptional. And when you’ve got a pandemic, if the new norm is to be split, being split then doesn’t meet the exceptional anymore, so you’ve got to have something over and above”
Katy Armstrong, Immigration Advisor
TIME APART
Aurelie and Justin returned to Geneva during Christmas 2019 for two months. Aurelie decided to stay for three weeks longer. Then Covid-19 struck, and she never made it home. “Aurelie called her travel agent to try and find another flight, and her agent rebooked another option through Hong Kong but, a few hours later, it was cancelled too,” remembers Justin. Then, around 20 March 2020, New Zealand closed its borders. Initially, Aurelie and Justin were not worried. “I did not expect it would be for long,” says Aurelie. “I thought it could be two weeks,” continues Justin, “I thought it was a temporary measure, but it continued, and eventually it dawned on me that this was going to go on for a long time.”
The couple was distraught. But New Zealand does accept expressions of interest to travel to the country when its borders are closed for various critical purpose reasons, including those made by partners of work or student visa holders. The partner must already hold a work, student, or visitor visa, and normally live in New Zealand. Aurelie and Justin delivered an expression of interest six times but received no answer on their first attempt, and immigration rejected their following five. The rejection from immigration did not make sense: it always stemmed from them asserting that Aurelie was not ‘ordinarily resident’ in New Zealand, despite her living there for nine months before Covid-19 with a valid partnership/work visa.
At the end of 2020, Justin wrote to the Minister for New Zealand’s Covid-19 response, desperate for help. Finally, a month and a half later, he received a response. The letter fails to recognise that Aurelie lived in New Zealand for nine months on her Partner of a New Zealander Work Visa before the pandemic and suggests no solution. Eventually, Justin and Aurelie enlisted the support of New Zealand immigration adviser Katy Armstrong. With her help, they were finally able to get immigration to reverse its previous orders on their case. Aurelie secured a Managed Isolation and Quarantine spot for 01 April 2021, paving the way for the couple to be reunited around 15 April 2021, 14 months after the pandemic first separated them.
The couple was distraught. But New Zealand does accept expressions of interest to travel to the country when its borders are closed for various critical purpose reasons, including those made by partners of work or student visa holders. The partner must already hold a work, student, or visitor visa, and normally live in New Zealand. Aurelie and Justin delivered an expression of interest six times but received no answer on their first attempt, and immigration rejected their following five. The rejection from immigration did not make sense: it always stemmed from them asserting that Aurelie was not ‘ordinarily resident’ in New Zealand, despite her living there for nine months before Covid-19 with a valid partnership/work visa.
At the end of 2020, Justin wrote to the Minister for New Zealand’s Covid-19 response, desperate for help. Finally, a month and a half later, he received a response. The letter fails to recognise that Aurelie lived in New Zealand for nine months on her Partner of a New Zealander Work Visa before the pandemic and suggests no solution. Eventually, Justin and Aurelie enlisted the support of New Zealand immigration adviser Katy Armstrong. With her help, they were finally able to get immigration to reverse its previous orders on their case. Aurelie secured a Managed Isolation and Quarantine spot for 01 April 2021, paving the way for the couple to be reunited around 15 April 2021, 14 months after the pandemic first separated them.
“For me that makes the situation even worse, I get really vexed, it makes me cry. When you see how they manage the decision, my family is important, my family is more important than the cricket team. Why don’t I count more than a cricket match? It shows that they can allow people to come back if they want to, if they manage it properly.”
Aurelie Sobion
“For me that makes the situation even worse, I get really vexed, it makes me cry. When you see how they manage the decision, my family is important, my family is more important than the cricket team. Why don’t I count more than a cricket match? It shows that they can allow people to come back if they want to, if they manage it properly.”
Aurelie Sobion
