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A woman is facing deportation from New Zealand and the possibility of splitting up her family because Immigration New Zealand (INZ) doesn’t believe her marriage is genuine.

Charity Valdez, 31, came to New Zealand from the Philippines in 2019 on a partnership visa with a previous partner who she claimed ill-treated her.

After leaving that relationship, she married 58-year-old Jojo Velasco, a New Zealand citizen also originally from the Philippines, in 2021 and they have a 1-year-old daughter, Charmaine.

But INZ declined her partnership visa application because it did not believe her relationship with Velasco was genuine.

“I came to New Zealand hoping to find a better life, but everything is falling apart and I have hardly been getting any sleep because I don’t know what to do,” Valdez said.

“My daughter she is born here and her father, my husband, New Zealand is their home.”

Dad Jojo Velasco says INZ's decision will split him from his wife Charity Valdez and 1-year-old daughter Charmaine. Photo / Jason Oxenham

Valdez comes from a village in Ifugao, a rural mountain province in the Philippines where she was a teacher.

“There is no way my husband can adjust to life in a mountain village so it is impossible to return there, and I don’t want Charmaine to grow up without a dad,” she added.

Valdez met Velasco in 2020 while she was working in a sushi shop in Albany, where he was a customer.

“We were just friends at the start, but after I left my ex-partner, we got close and he proposed about a year later.”

After she left her partner, Valdez obtained a a new employer-sponsored work visa before applying for a partnership visa supported by Velasco, which was declined.

Following a successful Immigration and Protection Tribunal (IPT) appeal against deportation, Valdez lodged a residence visa application last September - but INZ refused to grant her an interim visa to wait for its decision on that application, after her work visa expired last week.

Velasco said the INZ decision not to grant the interim visa was “heartbreaking” for the family.

“Up to that point, we were still holding on to a dream that maybe, just maybe, we can finally be a happy family with some stability,” Velasco said.

“But INZ’s actions are just cruel and cold-hearted, and seem to be aimed at breaking up our family and taking my baby away.”

Charity Valdez says she has been suffering sleepless nights at the thought of daughter Charmaine having to grow up without a dad. Photo / Jason Oxenham

Her immigration lawyer Maricel Weischede said she had received an email from INZ last Friday saying it had suspended the residence visa application process because Valdez was no longer lawfully in New Zealand.

“Now with the couple already struggling with their cost of living, unnecessary cost would burden them as Charity needs to now lodge a deportation appeal with the IPT to seek relief for an impending deportation,” Weischede said.

“If INZ had given her [an] interim visa, like they normally do, then the determination of her work visa could have been left to that assessment process.”

Charity Valdez came to New Zealand with the hope of finding a better life. Photo / Jason Oxenham

Weischede said it was disappointing that INZ refused to grant her interim visa, and this ultimately resulted in Valdez becoming an overstayer.

“Issuance of interim visas is discretionary, however, where a client has a pending visa application, I do not see why they have done so in her case,” said Weischede.

“She is not a threat to New Zealand, she is married to a Kiwi, her daughter is a Kiwi, she applied prior to the visa expiry and she has a job.”

In a letter to Weischede, INZ said Valdez needed to make arrangements to leave New Zealand immediately or be liable for deportation.

“Normally if an applicant has a pending application with INZ they issue an interim visa, but such is not the case for Charity,” Weischede said.

“Instead INZ refused to give her an interim visa, making her unlawful. This shows unfairness.”

Charity Valdez with her 1-year-old daughter Charmaine. Photo / Jason Oxenham

INZ’s operations director, Dominic Forde, said Valdez was granted a temporary work visa on April 6 last year by the IPT.

“This will allow the appellant time to lodge and progress her residence application and allow her, her husband, and their child a further period of stability until the outcome of that application is known,” the IPT said.

“Should the appellant’s application for residence be unsuccessful (or is still being processed), the 12 months will also have allowed the couple time to save money and make arrangements to return to the Philippines.”

But Forde said that her work visa had now expired.

“The decision whether to grant an interim visa is a discretionary one, and no person has the right to apply for an interim visa,” Forde said.

“As Ms Valdez had already been granted a temporary work visa by the IPT, she is not entitled to a further appeal against liability for deportation. If she was granted an interim visa or any other temporary entry class visa, her right of appeal would be re-instated.”

Forde said INZ was also concerned that Valdez may have provided misleading information in a previous application, and a letter noting this was sent to her on March 25.