973 donors help Fiji-Indian couple cover $31,815 medical bill after baby arrived 3 days too late
The family sold off their belongings back home before moving to New Zealand for work. (Supplied photo)
“Had the birth occurred only a couple of days earlier, we would not have been faced with this overwhelming hospital bill."
A Fiji-Indian couple facing a $31,815 hospital bill after their baby was born three days after their New Zealand work visas expired have raised enough money to cover the cost.
The Givealittle fundraiser for Shalveen Sen and his wife Swastika Chand has collected $34,665 from 973 donors in five days, exceeding its original $31,815 goal.
Sen told Stuff the response had been a major help to the family.
“It is a very big help. A very big thank you to all those people who helped,” he said.
The couple had lived in New Zealand for the past three years before their work visas expired on June 24.
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Their son, Nyshik Sen, was born at Dunedin Hospital on June 27 — just three days later.
The family says they did not return to Fiji before the visas expired because Chand had been medically advised not to travel during the third trimester due to complications with her pregnancy.
The timing of the birth mattered because longer-term work visa holders can qualify for New Zealand’s publicly funded health system.
Immigration New Zealand says people holding work visas allowing them to remain in New Zealand for two years or longer may be eligible for publicly funded healthcare.
Its guidance for accredited employers says workers whose visas allow them to be in New Zealand for at least two years can use publicly funded health services.
For Sen and Chand, that eligibility ended just before their baby arrived.
“Our baby was born on the 27/6/26 just three days after our work visa expired,” Sen says on the Givealittle page.
“Because of this unfortunate timing, we were no longer eligible for the healthcare support that we would have received if our baby had been born before our visa expiry date.”
The family was subsequently billed $31,815.50 by Dunedin Hospital.
Sen and Chand say they had been trying since last year to extend their visas but their application was declined because they fell just short of the work experience required by Immigration New Zealand.
The couple had moved from Fiji about three years ago and, according to Sen, had sold their belongings there with the intention of settling in New Zealand.
As their visa expiry approached, Chand was in the later stages of pregnancy. The family says medical advice against travelling during the third trimester meant returning to Fiji was not considered safe.
“Had the birth occurred only a couple of days earlier, we would not have been faced with this overwhelming hospital bill,” Sen says.
Sen had said the family’s expired visas also meant neither parent was able to work and earn the money needed to pay the hospital debt.
“The burden of this hospital debt is beyond our current means,” he said.
That burden has now been met by hundreds of donors, with the fundraiser passing its target within five days.
