Widow may remain

Press, 26 May 1979, Page 14

Widow may remain

PA Wellington Announcing a decision yesterday to allow a stateless Vietnamese widow and her daughter to remain in New Zealand, the Undersecretary of Immigration (Mr Malcoim) called on would-be migrants to furnish his department with "all the facts” He said the Immigration Division w’ould have originally allowed Mrs Huynh Kim Chee (also known as Mrs Chee Lee) and her daughter, aged 14, t< remain in New Zealand had it been given all the facts. "The information I have that enables me to make that decision has become available only since the matter of Mrs Huynh’s position was raised publicly," he said. The Saigon-born Mrs Huynh arrived in New

Zealand with a Singaporean tour party in December, 1977. Her visa expired at the end of the month, but she stayed in New Zealand, while the remaining members of the tour party returned to Singapore. Mrs Hiynh settled in Auckland. She had been living in Singapore on a visitor’s visa for seven years after leaving Vietnam in the early 60s. Earlier this month, the Immigration Division ruled that she was in New Zealand illegal!v and w'ould have to leave. But after the publication of her plight, Mr Malcolm promised to reconsider the decision. He said on Thursday that the division had been involveed for more than a year with the ‘'difficult” case of Mrs Huynh and her daughter.

"Based on the information that had been supplied by

Mrs Huynh, the Immigration Division required that she and her daughter leave New Zealand,” he said. “In early May, Mrs Huynh or her .dvisers complained to the news media about the decision. That approach resulted in r story that raised considerable sympathy and also resulted in the matter’s coming to my attention for the first time,” Mr Malcolm said. “Mrs Huynh’s case very clearly points up the necessity on the part of any person dealing with the Immigration Division always to provide the fullest possible details of their circumstances. I want to emphasise and encourage that course most strongly,” Mr Malcolm said. When Mrs Huynh heard news of the favourable decision she said it was "great I feel so happy now.”