'Nightmare': Why NZ govt declined visa for woman stranded in the Cook Islands

Immigration New Zealand (INZ) says it will not allow a foreign national stuck in the Cook Islands to transit because it doubts her true intentions.

The South Asian woman, 49, arrived in the Cook Islands on 8 November 2023 and has been unable to leave since then. She also does not possess a visa to stay in the country.

Neither Australia nor New Zealand has approved her transit, for which she does not even require leaving the airport.

INZ operations director Janine Parsons confirmed that they received multiple applications for a transit visa from the woman.

"However, these applications were declined as we were not satisfied she has a genuine intention to transit through New Zealand," Parsons told Cook Islands News. "We are unable to comment further due to privacy concerns."

When told of INZ's response, the woman said that she just wanted to return home.

"Living by myself for three years without seeing family is torture. It is a psychological nightmare. I genuinely want to return home. I have no intention to stay in New Zealand," she told the newspaper.

"If they want, they can place me in custody after I get off in Auckland and then escort me to a connecting flight to make sure I go home.

"My only child is getting married and he wants me to be there (her home country). I have no reasons to want to go to New Zealand or Australia."

The woman stranded in the Cook Islands says she is willing to transit through Auckland under escort if it allows her to return home. Photo/RNZ

The Australian High Commission referred all queries regarding the matter to the Department of Home Affairs in Canberra, which had not responded by deadline Monday (local time).

Last week, Cook Islands principal immigration officer Chere Arthur stated in an email that the government understands the public interest in the matter.

Arthur wrote to INZ on 11 April 2025, offering assistance by having someone escort the woman to Auckland Airport until she boarded her connecting flight to Singapore. This offer was not taken.

"The individual remains in the Cook Islands not because options for departure have not been explored, but because of difficulties obtaining the transit visas needed to travel through other countries on the way to her final destination," Arthur said.

"Transit visas are issued by the countries a person needs to pass through during their journey. Decisions about these visas are made by those countries and are outside the control of the Cook Islands government.

"While the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Immigration has worked to identify possible travel arrangements, any departure depends on the approval of the necessary transit and travel documents by the relevant authorities.

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"The government continues to manage the matter in accordance with the law and, to protect the individual's privacy, will not comment further on the details of the case."

The woman has remained in the Cook Islands since 2023 and is currently dependent on family support. She does not have a valid visa to stay in the Cook Islands, but because of her inability to depart, she remains stuck.

She told Cook Islands News earlier that she even explored leaving through Tahiti, but that option was also denied. She said if she could leave on a ship, she was willing to do that, given proper procedures were followed for her departure.

The foreign national left her country after her husband was killed. She worked in Hong Kong for almost a year before being granted a work visa in New Zealand in March 2023. Whilst working, she applied for an asylum visa.

The woman claimed that while her visa was being processed, she was told by the lawyer helping her out that she needed to leave New Zealand and return later.

This story was first published in the Cook Islands News.