The 89-year-old married his Filipino wife Aurora (67) five years ago and has been trying since then to get her New Zealand residency. Mrs Glover had been living in this country until a year ago, when she returned to her home country to sort out her mother's estate. Mrs Glover has diabetes and an application for a New Zealand residence visa and subsequent appeals had been denied in the past because of her health. On her return to the Philippines, her condition deteriorated and she required dialysis. The cost of dialysis in this country as a non-resident was prohibitive, so Mrs Glover has remained in the Philippines for treatment.
Her husband appealed to the Minister of Immigration for a review of the case on humanitarian grounds. A petition supporting his case was signed by 130 people and Central Otago Mayor Tony Lepper also backed the bid.
The response, from Associate Minister of Immigration Nikki Kaye, said ''as an exception to instructions'', she would grant Mrs Glover a multiple entry visitor visa, valid for two years.
''The grant of a visa on this occasion does not guarantee that further visas will be granted to Mrs Glover in the future, '' Ms Kaye said. However, Mr Glover said the ruling by Ms Kaye leaves the couple ''no further ahead''.
''If she comes back here as non-resident, it'll cost $1200 a week to pay for her dialysis, and I don't have more than $60,000 a year spare for that. I'm on a pension ... we were asking for residency, and giving her a visitor visa doesn't really help at all.''
He will continue his battle to get his wife a resident's visa.
''I've got to keep punching away at it, because what else can I do? We're no better off now than we were five years ago, when we first tried to get residency for her and this just goes on and on. ''
The couple remained separated in the meantime, which was hard on them both, he said.
''We've already had to prove it was a legitimate marriage. And you'd think when you got married, your partner would automatically become a Kiwi.''
