23-year-old Sukhwinder Singh has bought his ticket to India after he was served a deportation order by Immigration officials in New Zealand on the day he was getting married to his 30-year-old live-in partner Carolyn Macey, reports.
Two immigration officials reached couple’s home on their wedding day, Tuesday, August 22nd to take Sukhwinder into custody and put him on a plane back to India.
Sukwinder had just left home that day morning, around 7.30am to pick up Carolyn’s bridesmaid and within minutes of his leaving, he was shocked to get a phone call from Carolyn that two Immigration NZ officials were at the door to take him away.
He returned immediately and the couple informed the Immigration officials of their wedding plans and pleaded not to take him into custody as it was their wedding day.
Immigration NZ accepted their plea and later that day, Sukhwinder and Carolyn registered their marriage at the local registry office.
In return, Sukhwinder was required to provide evidence of having booked a ticket to India by August 25th.
Following this, Sukhwinder has bought his ticket to India on September 15th. However, the couple has vowed to keep their fight on.
"When Carolyn was working it was all going into lawyers' fees.
"We are trying to sell the car so we have something. We are just trying to figure out what we are going to do."
Singh’s wife, Macey said, “We're not giving up. We are together and we're going to stay together. We haven't given up hope".
Singh said he had bought the ticket home himself so that he could avoid deportation, potentially allowing him to apply again from India for a partnership visa.
Singh came to New Zealand in January 2014 on a student visa to study business in Christchurch. The visa expired in March 2015, but he got another year-long visa in early 2015 for further study, then after that, a graduate job search visa. That expired on May 25 this year.
Singh and Macey met through Facebook in October 2014. Singh said their relationship began at the start of 2015 and they began living together in January 2016.
In March 2017, the couple said they applied for a partnership work visa for Singh but immigration NZ denied the visa in May.
