The partner of a New Zealand woman with a brain aneurysm may be sent back to the United States.
However, Elizabeth Bradley (49) says she was led to believe by her immigration adviser that the Immigration New Zealand decision to decline her US partner's work visa was "made in China''.
Ms Bradley, a librarian from Mt Albert, was so outraged she wrote to her MP, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, slamming the fact a Chinese citizen was making a decision about who could live in New Zealand.
"It's hard to believe any Kiwi would accept any decision made on their behalf by a citizen of a foreign country,'' Ms Bradley said in the letter.
"I was astounded to learn that the person making this decision that so greatly affects my life and future was not a New Zealander.''
But INZ confirmed yesterday the visa officer was in fact based in Auckland, despite the fact he had a Chinese-sounding name.
"It should be noted that the decision to decline the application was due to INZ not being satisfied that [Ken] Chertok and his partner were living together in a relationship that was genuine and stable,'' INZ manager Michael Carley said.
Ms Bradley believed she had been misled by their adviser, Tuariki Delamere, about who made the decision.
"According to Tuariki, the visa was declined by a Chinese man based in Shanghai,'' she said.
"[We] naively believed our licensed immigration adviser was a professional with only our wellbeing at heart.''
Ms Bradley said this left her shocked that a person in another country could decide and make judgements on the life and future of a New Zealander.
Mr Delamere did not return calls, texts or messages yesterday.
"Mr Delamere was very much mistaken when he told us that the INZ staff member who rejected our application was in China,'' she said.
"He encouraged us to go to the media with this fact and at no time ... has he corrected his error.''
Ms Bradley claimed Mr Delamere had known at some stage the officer was not China-based.
Ms Bradley, who has worked with Auckland libraries for 30 years, has been diagnosed with an aneurysm and said Chertok (also 49) had been an "immense support''.
"I have no family in this country and Ken has been absolutely wonderful, waiting with me in emergency all night, attending appointments and helping me understand the diagnosis and tests I went through,'' she said.
The couple met four years ago on Twitter and Ms Bradley flew to visit him in Seattle in 2016.
Mr Chertok, a former lawyer, came to New Zealand on a visitor's visa last year and has been living with Ms Bradley.
But over the period, he did travel back to the US to work on a potential business and to visit family.
The couple received a notice from INZ in May that Mr Chertok's application for a partnership visa was likely to be declined due to a lack of continuity of living together.
The couple requested an interview, but their request was turned down by the case officer.
Mr Chertok said they were planning a future together, including buying a house, getting married and establishing a business in Auckland.
