My son’s autism meant he was refused New Zealand Residency

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Here's a news story about autism.

My son’s autism meant he was refused New Zealand residency – so we’re leaving

In Australia, there's been similar cases of immigration officials trying to deport autistic children. Our extremely cynical government tends to cave in as soon as the story hits mainstream media and gets a petition. I tend to view New Zealand as a nicer version of Australia, so I reckon that Leemans could get his kid to stay if he really pressed his case. Still, leaving the country will shame New Zealand for this particular policy.

It seems to me that some countries are so strict on immigration they don't want to be paying for your child's care so they reject your child. UK is also strict on their immigration laws too but I also wonder if they also reject children.

Bottom line...NZ doesn't want to pick up the tab when his parents die to house him in a group home or where ever. Not their citizen. Not their problem. Would they deport the person back to Beligium? Wouldn't put it past a government.

Many countries will let you stay if you are financially self sufficient. My friend had to do that with her mother, when they moved to Canada. They had to prove the family had enough money to pay all her needs if she needed hospital/nursing home care.

It is extremely difficult to become a resident in NZ, Australia, the UK and Canada. Tax payers contribute to health care. Why should they pick up ABA therapy or dialysis treatment for someone who isn't a citizen? A resident just means you can legally stay in the country.

I know the UK denies entrance for people on dialysis. You can't even get a visa to visit without proving you have set up all your treatment places and have paid for them in advance. My doctor friend had to do this for his brother when they went on a family trip to Scotland, Ireland and England. It took months to coordinate.

This is nothing new. New Zealand doesn't care because they have boat loads of people wanting to get in. They can afford to be choosey.

It also doesn't help that their home country isn't some 3rd world hell hole. Not exactly refugee status.

And people who always say "Don't like how things are in your country, move to another country." Yeah if they knew how simple that would be right? If you are rich and have a high paying job, sure but if you are poor or middle class, it would be impossible because of strict immigration laws. I even wish the US had strict immigration laws too.

Well there's no way I will be leaving Canada anytime soon, I guess. I like Canada, though. It's cold but manageable.

I know in Australia the policy is based on economic imperatives. The anticipated cost to the taxpayer of granting residency to a family with a disabled child. Revoking this policy risks electoral backlash, especially with the current economic situation...it's a really tough dilemma

The real story: this is far, far bigger than autism. New Zealand now won't accept anyone with an obesity-level BMI for example, or a chronic disease like Rheumatoid arthritis, or any condition that is likely to cause particular expense. New Zealand has free health care (though of course the tax payer funds it) and a string of neoliberal goverments have been bent on lowering company taxes and so health budgets have been slashed to pay for the lost revenue - it's not an autism issue per se at all, though autism is affected along with many many other kinds of conditions as requiring extra revenue. It's a neo-liberal issue..and it's been going on for a couple of years coming right from the top levels of parliament.

The amount per capita commited to the health budget is deliberately being shrunk so that the far right government can sell off our health system to private ownership (theirs, through blind trusts). So they are committed to make the current system fail from underfunding - then they can say that it 'doesn't work' and privatise it so that rich shareholders (themselves) massively benefit.

However currently there are long waiting lists even for NZ citizens now, due to deliberate under-funding agenda, so that the current system can't even cope with citizen-level demand, let alone newcomers, and the neoliberal government doesn't want to push the strain too hard too fast for now as there is an election next year and they don't want to lose power. (I hope they will).

@B19...

NZ's immigration policies are off the chart. My husband was curious, and I told him don't bother.

You need to be a wealthy Shanghai business man, perfect health and know English. Business connections are a plus..lol..

The exclusion medical list is long.

One day I'd love to visit for birding tours. Just gotta keep saving up those dollars.

Sadly true. New Zealand, once "the most corruption free country in the world" has been compromised by the mercenary agendas of recent governments. And yes, some of the rich buy their way in, the rest do their money laundering here and the government looks the other way.

This makes me somewhat ashamed to be a kiwi. Its discriminatory.
It is though one unusual flip side of the universal free health system. If someone comes here to live then you are covered which means health of immigrants has a potential financial implication for the country. They have even deported people for being overweight. If our health system was private then it would be different.

But in this partucular case it is crazy even if you ignore those aspects because the boys Stepfather is a top Maths professor. Big loss overall for NZ in my opinion and many other people here hold that view.

Bringing up this topic again. I just joined. I read about a professor in Canada (from the US) who was tops in psychology. He and his wife had been in the country for over a decade, but they never got Canadian citizenship. They had a child and he began to grow up. And it turned out that he was autistic. So all of them were deported to the US. Here is the link:

http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canad ... tistic-son

But what I'm wondering: I live in the US and I'm an American citizen. I was recently diagnosed with high-functioning autism. I've been financially independent, paid taxes, held a technical job until I recently retired. If I were to visit Canada (or the UK or Australia or NZ), can I be deported if it were found out that I'm autistic?

Makes me think twice before considering supporting a single payer health system.

I do not believe anybody would be denied residency (or deported) simply for being autistic, it would only happen if a person has a disability or health condition that require greater than normal supports. The professors child was autistic but also had a high level of disability.