Kiwi bride's homecoming wedding postponed twice due to Nigerian fiance's visa limbo

Friday, 1 November 2019

Racheal Broyden with her fiance Chiedozie Innocent. Their wedding has been delayed twice due to Immigration New Zealand red tape. The agency also suspects their intentions to marry aren't genuine.

A bride-to-be is desperate to be walked down the aisle by her ailing father, on home soil, but her fiance's visa application is buried in red tape.

Racheal Broyden, 48, has already been forced to postpone her wedding to Chiedozie Innocent twice due to delays with Immigration New Zealand.

The couple, who live in the United Arab Emirates, had planned to wed in an intimate ceremony with her family in Palmerston North in June.

But the big day was called off when the groom-to-be was denied entry after immigration officials raised concerns.

Racheal Broyden desperately wants to marry Chiedozie Innocent in her home city of Palmerston North, and be walked down the aisle by her father, whose health is deteriorating.

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The couple rescheduled their wedding to October 5, which they thought would allow enough time to allay any concern and acquire the appropriate visa. Four months later, an immigration officer has yet to been assigned to the case.

The marriage license has expired. Bookings have lapsed. Guests who booked flights to watch the happy couple tie the knot are frustrated and out-of-pocket, while the health of Broyden's parents deteriorates.

Immigration New Zealand operations support manager Michael Carly said the department was dealing with 79,400 visa applications. It employs 752 officers and makes more than one million decisions each year.

A surge of applications has prompted a recruitment drive, both onshore and afar. But staff need training.

Although there is no timeframe for when an application must be allocated to an officer, 90 per cent of visitor visas are decided within 20 days.

'As our staff become more experienced, productivity will increase and timeliness will improve,' he said.

Keith and Madge Broyden at the Centennial Drive lagoon in Palmerston North, where their daughter Rachel had organised to have wedding photos taken. The couple want, more than anything, to see her get married.

'We… generally do a good job of this when the applications are complete and low risk.'

Broyden moved to Abu Dhabi to become a pediatric nurse at Mafraq Hospital six years ago, having worked in various New Zealand hospitals and completing a three-month Christian mission in India.

She met Innocent, an accountant, through mutual friends and they quickly grew close.

Innocent had suffered the death of his first wife and wanted his fiancee to get married in her home city, where her father, Keith Broyden, could walk her down the isle at Gateways Christian Fellowship Church.

He has severe emphysema, while the bride's mother Madge has arthritis in both legs. Both are unable to board an 18-hour flight.

Keith Broyden, who spent most of January in hospital, said he was desperate to be part of his daughter's big day before his health got worse.

'It would be everything,' he said, to walk his daughter down the aisle.

'It's our last daughter to do it. I've have a bad year and that would be the highlight of the year. They're not coming here to take anyone's job, they've got no police record. They just want to get married and then go back to their lives.'

The couple intend to spend no more than 15 days in New Zealand, but immigration officers consider Innocent a flight risk and doubt he will leave when his visa expires.

Officials said he had limited international travel experience, had only flown once from Nigeria to Dubai, and questioned whether the couple's relationship was genuine because they did not live together.

In a letter to the department, Broyden explained it was illegal to live with her fiance in the UAE or even hold hands in public places.

'We are also both of Christian faith and believe it is not proper to live together prior to marriage,' she wrote.

Broyden had also provided proof of the couple's annual leave and the date they were required to return to work.

'We entered this journey with the excitement of being able to get married before my family in New Zealand. I don't mean to sound like a spoilt brat, but surely one must agree this is very poor service.'

Broyden is visiting New Zealand in November without her fiance to speak with immigration officials about the time it has taken to process her fiance's visa.

Carly said the time it took to green light a visa depended on a range of factors, such as the complexity of the application, whether further information was required and whether it needed to be verified.

Clarification: An earlier version of this article reported that Immigration would not comment on Chiedozie Innocent's visa application. The department is not able to comment until a privacy waiver had been received. Stuff is in the process of securing this waiver. The letter from Immigration NZ to Mr Innocent, raising concerns, was for a previous visa application which was declined.