{"id":92183,"date":"2025-10-21T13:28:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T13:28:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/92183\/"},"modified":"2025-10-21T13:28:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T13:28:10","slug":"born-in-new-zealand-belonging-nowhere-a-18-year-old-faces-deportation-to-india-after-a-lifetime-in-limbo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/92183\/","title":{"rendered":"Born in New Zealand, belonging nowhere: A 18-year-old faces deportation to India after a lifetime in limbo"},"content":{"rendered":"

Eighteen-year-old Navjot Singh<\/a> has never known another home but New Zealand. Born and raised in Auckland, he speaks with a Kiwi accent, has local friends, and has never set foot outside the country. Yet, this week, the government ordered his deportation to India — a country he has never visited and whose language he does not speak, The Times of India reported on October 21.<\/p>\n

Navjot\u2019s predicament is the result of a law that quietly ended birthright citizenship in New Zealand nearly two decades ago. The rule states that children born in the country after 2006 to parents without lawful immigration status are not recognised as citizens. In Navjot\u2019s case, his parents, Indian nationals, had overstayed their visas long before his birth.<\/p>\n

His father was deported just five days after he was born. His mother, who stayed behind, lost her legal status in 2012 when Navjot was five. Since then, he has lived in New Zealand without access to basic rights — unable to legally attend school, access healthcare or build a future.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was eight when I found out I don\u2019t belong here,\u201d he told local media. \u201cAll my friends go to school, talk about what they want to be. I don\u2019t even have that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite being born and socialised entirely in New Zealand, Navjot remains stateless. His appeal for residency through ministerial intervention was recently rejected by Associate Immigration Minister Chris Penk, according to Radio New Zealand (RNZ).<\/p>\n

Immigration lawyer Alastair McClymont, who represents Navjot, called the decision \u201cinhumane.\u201d He argued that New Zealand\u2019s immigration framework lacks compassion for children raised in the country through no fault of their own.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt makes no sense to deport children who have grown up here to a foreign country,\u201d McClymont said. He urged the government to reform its policies, aligning them with those of countries like Australia and the United Kingdom, where children born and raised locally can acquire citizenship after ten years of residence.<\/p>\n

Community leaders have also rallied in support of Navjot. Daljit Singh, president of the Supreme Sikh Society, said the case has caused deep concern within the Indian-origin community in New Zealand. \u201cHe was born here and is part of our community,\u201d Daljit said. \u201cSending him away is like tearing apart a family that\u2019s already been broken.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Navjot, the prospect of deportation is terrifying. He says he fears being sent to a country where he has no family ties, no education and no understanding of the language or culture. \u201cI\u2019ve heard even people with degrees can\u2019t find jobs there,\u201d he told RNZ. \u201cI\u2019ve never even gone to school. How will I survive?\u201d<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Immigration Minister Erica Stanford told RNZ that there are currently no policy discussions underway to reconsider the status of people born in New Zealand after 2006 to parents without legal immigration status. However, such cases can still be reviewed individually by the Immigration Protection Tribunal or through ministerial discretion.<\/p>\n

Navjot\u2019s case has reignited debate over New Zealand\u2019s citizenship laws and their unintended social consequences. While the 2006 reform aimed to curb visa overstays and \u201cbirth tourism,\u201d critics say it has instead created a generation of young people trapped in legal limbo \u2014 born in New Zealand but belonging nowhere.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Eighteen-year-old Navjot Singh has never known another home but New Zealand. Born and raised in Auckland, he speaks…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":92184,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[69067,69068,111,69070,69069,18491,43,139,55648,69],"class_list":["post-92183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-navjot-singh","tag-navjot-singh-deportation","tag-new-zealand","tag-new-zealand-news","tag-new-zealand-residency-laws","tag-new-zealand-visa","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nri","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92183"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92183\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/92184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}