'I don't speak Hindi': 18-year-old Navjot Singh faces deportation to India from New Zealand because parents overstayed

The New Zealand government has decided to deport 18-year-old Navjot Singh to India as he does not have any legal status in the country though he was born and raised in New Zealand, and never left the country.

The situation stemmed from a law that ended birthright citizenship and said those who born in New Zealand after 2006 to parents without lawful immigration status are not legal in New Zealand. Navjot Singh was born in Auckland in 2007 to Indian-origin parents who overstayed their visa. His father was deported when he was just five days old and his mother lost her legal status in 2012 when he was just five years old. He got to know about his situation when he was eight years old as he learned that he will never get access to education, healthcare and basic rights in New Zealand. But he is scared to leave New Zealand as he has friends there. He also thinks he will struggle to survive in India as he does not speak Hindi. He said he heard that people with higher qualification can't find jobs in India and he's never gone to school. Singh's request for residency through ministerial intervention was recently denied by associate immigration minister Chris Penk, RNZ reported. Immigration lawyer Alastair McClymont, representing Singh, called the decision “inhumane” and urged the government to adopt a fairer approach.

“It makes no sense to deport children who have grown up here to a foreign country,” he said to RNZ. McClymont said the government should align its laws with those of countries such as Australia and the United Kingdom, which grant citizenship to children who have lived there for 10 years.Community leaders, including Daljit Singh, president of the Supreme Sikh Society, have rallied behind Navjot. “He was born here and is part of our community,” Daljit Singh told RNZ.A spokesperson for Immigration Minister Erica Stanford told RNZ that there was no policy work underway on people born in New Zealand after 2006 to parents without legal status, but that individual cases could be considered through the Immigration Protection Tribunal or ministerial intervention.