Rotorua migrant returns to India to reunite with husband

Priya Fernandes will fly home this week. Photo / Andrew Warner

A Rotorua migrant is returning home to India "in triumph" after two years apart from her husband.

Priya Fernandes has spent recent weeks "grieving" after deciding to leave the city, but she says spending her 30th wedding anniversary in December without her husband Edwin isn't an option.

Fernandes, a former Toi Ohomai masters student who also works part-time as a frontline border worker, moved to Rotorua from India in October 2019.

After completing her degree in July, Fernandes was granted a three-year work visa and she planned to complete her PhD in New Zealand.

But her husband hasn't been able to enter the country, so Fernandes made the call to put family first and head home.

In November 2019, Edwin applied for a student partnership visa and was placed in the queue.

But a few months later in March 2020, New Zealand went into alert level 4 lockdown and offshore visa applications were paused.

It meant the husband and wife had to live apart for the next two years.

Fernandes, who volunteered for Red Cross and was an active member of Multicultural Rotorua, said saying goodbye to close friends over the past two weeks had been "painful".

"It is overwhelming. I am grieving because I love so many people here," she said.

Edwin Fernandes and Priya Fernandes will celebrate their 30th anniversary in December. Photo / Supplied

"People have been so kind, and they have accepted me here. Everyone is trying to convince me to stay.

"I came here and I didn't know one person - and here I am today leaving with so many people as my friends.

"And I am leaving because I don't have my family here, and family always comes first for me."

While in Rotorua, Fernandes took time for "retrospection" and learned to put herself first, saying the "enriching" experience was good for her spirit.

"Back in India, I was always taking care of others - I was a big sister, a mum, a wife. I came here and I had no one to take care of.

"I started asking 'what do I want?' I learnt self-care. I learnt to know who is Priya is."

Despite leaving the country, Fernandes said it would be impossible now to "take the Kiwi" out of her.

"I am going with a grateful heart, I am going in triumph. I am not going defeated."

Fernandes said once reunited with Edwin she didn't plan to leave his side.

"I am not letting Edwin go without me, and I am never going anywhere without him.
I have made that mistake. We are going to be package now."

On arrival in India, Fernandes would need to isolate until returning a negative Covid test.

"Then I will kiss and hug them."

In a written statement, a spokesperson for the Immigration Minister said visa applications from those offshore were not being processed due to current border restrictions.

"Legally, Immigration New Zealand is unable to grant a visa to anyone who is unlikely to meet New Zealand's entry requirements."