Immigrant reunites with family after 23 years

Abdul Jalil Patel greets his wife, Amina, and son Salman at Auckland airport. Photo / Richard Robinson

It was a day an Indian immigrant thought he wouldn't live to see but after 23 years of separation, Abdul Jalil Patel was yesterday reunited with his wife and son in Auckland.

"Almost every night I dream of hugging my wife and son, I still cannot believe that I got to physically hold them today," said Mr Patel.

"This is truly a God-given bonus, because I thought I would be going to my grave without ever seeing them again."

Mr Patel's 23-year ordeal began in 1986 when he came to New Zealand with a dream of becoming a citizen.

His first immigration consultant misplaced his passport and failed to submit his residency application, turning him into an "illegal alien".

A string of immigration blunders over the years kept him either an overstayer or on a work permit, and stalled his residency dream.

To survive, Mr Patel worked, sometimes illegally, in the hospitality industry, sometimes as a bartender or chef.

"I didn't know I was breaking the law, I just knew I had to earn some money to survive."

But in a last-ditch appeal to the Immigration Minister last September by his new consultant, Tika Ram, the decision to deny him New Zealand residence was overturned.

The former associate Immigration Minister, Shane Jones, agreed to grant Mr Patel, 58 and his wife Amina, 55, residency as an exception to policy.

His son Salman Jalil Patel, 24, said,

"I grew up without a father, and never thought I would ever get to see him. But today is truly a blessing for our family, and we are really so happy to be a complete family again."

Amina, whom Mr Patel described as a religiously devout Muslim, said she had been praying every day for 23 years for this day to come, and felt it happened only with the "blessings of Allah".

For their first dinner the family feasted on a Gujarati-style Indian meal prepared by Mr Patel from fresh New Zealand fish and meat, complete with fig and cashew nut juice and homemade mango ice-cream.

Mr Patel said he had picked up some cooking skills to work as a chef.

"Cooking dinner was my way of showing the family how I've survived, while introducing them to seafood and meat from their new home country."