Invercargill family split by Covid-19 border restrictions to be reunited

Monday, 27 April 2020

Waiting in Invercargill for husband and father Vernon Walmsley to return from Brazil are Mary Walmsley and children Lucas, 6, and Carol, 4.

A man separated from his Invercargill-based family by 12,000km of Pacific Ocean during the Covid-19 pandemic has been granted a visa to return home.

Vernon Walmsley will catch a flight from Brazil to New Zealand on May 1 and his wife Mary says she 'can't stop smiling'.

The couple and their two young children moved from their homeland of Brazil to New Zealand in early 2019 to start a new life.

The couple, who have three-year working visas in New Zealand, had been living in Invercargill for 12 months when Walmsley returned to Brazil alone in February to visit his ill father in hospital.

With New Zealand going into lockdown on March 25, Walmsley applied to Immigration New Zealand on March 31 to return to New Zealand to be with his family.

His initial request, considered under the Covid-19 travel ban exception process, was unsuccessful as he was not a New Zealand citizen and did not have residency.

Vernon Walmsley has been granted a visa to return from Brazil to New Zealand to be with wife and children in Invercargill.

However, after later being told to reapply, he was granted a visa on April 24.

It was decided he met the criteria to be an exception to the border restrictions because he held a New Zealand work visa and had a partner and dependent children in New Zealand.

His wife, Mary Walmsley, said he was flying to Auckland on May 1.

'He's coming in that airplane that… gets the Brazilians back home,' she said.

She understood he may have to spend two weeks in self isolation before he could return to their Invercargill home.

Many other people had been split from their families due to the Covid-19 border restrictions.

An Immigration New Zealand spokesperson confirmed last week the New Zealand border was closed to all but New Zealand citizens and residents, but with limited exceptions.

Exceptions included some essential workers, people with New Zealand work visas who were overseas and had a partner and dependent children in New Zealand, the partners and dependent children of New Zealand citizens and residents, and Australians who normally lived in New Zealand.

Radio NZ last week reported that Immigration New Zealand had received almost 3500 exemption requests to its border restrictions.

Of the more than 3100 that had been decided, 80 percent were refused.