Indian-origin man living at Malaysia airport after New Zealand, India deny entry
A screengrab from a video the man posted from the Kuala Lumpur airport.
A source confirmed the man doesn't officially hold a passport for either country.
A man travelling from New Zealand to India has been living at the Kuala Lumpur airport since last month after both the countries have refused to let him in.
The man, who claims he is from the northern Indian city of Jalandhar, boarded a Malaysia Airlines flight from Auckland on April 23. Authorities at the Delhi airport stopped him because he had neither an Indian passport nor a valid visa to enter India.
He was put on a flight back to New Zealand, but at Kuala Lumpur he wasn't allowed to board the aircraft for the final leg to Auckland.
In a video posted from the airport a few days back, the man claims he has been desperately trying to return home. He claims he has no money, food or luggage.
Immigration New Zealand (INZ) told Awaaz they couldn't reveal much due to privacy reasons, but confirmed the man's visa lapsed the moment he left shores for India.
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"He was on a valid temporary visa when he decided to leave New Zealand of his own accord," said Richard Owen, general manager immigration risk and border.
"The individual’s visa expired when he left New Zealand as it had no travel conditions and he has no right to return here."
A source confirmed the man doesn't officially hold a passport for either country. He was living in New Zealand with a 'certificate of identity', which acts as a legal travel document for stateless people without a passport.
The INZ said it couldn't confirm whether the man was an asylum seeker or not.
According to the department of internal affairs website, a certificate of identity allows people who are not New Zealand citizens to leave the country when they cannot obtain a passport from their country of citizenship.
"Holding a certificate of identity does not affect your nationality or citizenship status. A New Zealand certificate of identity is valid for a maximum of 2 years."
Awaaz wrote to Malaysia Airlines and New Zealand passport control authorities enquiring how was the man allowed to board the flight without an Indian visa. We were still awaiting a final reply at the time of publishing this story.
In the video, the man says he decided to return to India because it wasn't working out for him in New Zealand, and that his residency documents had not been processed.
“My father was also unwell, so I decided to return home...My [Indian] passport had expired because my documents were not ready," he says.
The man says Indian immigration officials made him wait at the Delhi airport for two days while they verified his credentials, before putting him on a flight back.
“I told them I don’t have a visa for New Zealand, but they forcefully put me on a flight to Malaysia," he says.
"I tried speaking to the High Commission here in Malaysia, but they told me to go to New Zealand and get the documents. I don’t know what to do."
That video was posted several days back. Since then, the Indian high commission in Malaysia has been considering his request actively, a source in Delhi told Awaaz.
"They are trying to make arrangements so he can enter India and unite with his family."
