An Auckland mother claims Immigration New Zealand is leaving her family in the lurch by only granting one of her two sons residency.
Jo-Lene Mahon's three-year-old son Liam has Williams Syndrome, a rare genetic condition which can cause cardiovascular disease and developmental delays.
Jo-Lene and Andreas Nolan have two young children, but only one has been given permanent residency. Photo: Supplied/Jo-Lene Nolan
Her husband Andreas, 35, is a German-born New Zealand citizen, and she and her other son, Nolan, have permanent residency, but Immigration New Zealand has not yet granted Liam a permanent visa because of his health problems.
Mrs Mahon said they were falling behind on his treatment, because they could not go through the public system.
"He hasn't been able to have that while we're waiting for his residency to be approved, unless we pay for it privately, which is really expensive.
"Obviously we're doing the best we can to make sure he doesn't fall too far behind, but we can't keep this up for too long."
Immigration New Zealand said it had to consider the cost of people's health problems to the taxpayer when granting residency, and was still considering Liam's application.