decision

Timaio v Chief Executive of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment - decision

Litigation

Sabin

Sabin Litigation

Filing Year For Action

This case was brought as a humanitarian appeal by the appellant, a 63-year-old citizen of Tuvalu, against her liability to deportation, which arose after she became unlawfully present in New Zealand. 

The primary issue on appeal was whether the appellant's settlement in New Zealand and her familial nexus here, and her situation in Tuvalu, gave rise to exceptional humanitarian circumstances. The Tribunal Member Pearson, on January 31, 2025, held that it did. 

One factor that weighed into this decision was the effects of climate change, including the psychological impacts of exposure to slow-onset hazards. The Tribunal cited BM (Tuvalu), which discussed the psychosocial impacts of exposure to hazards, including findings from a recent study on Tuvalu, in which 100 Tuvaluans on Funafuti atoll were interviewed to understand distress associated with climate change. Locally experienced or abstract climate change stressors were reported to be a cause of distress in all but five cases, with 62.4 per cent of participants reporting at least one extreme indicator of distress in response to local or abstract climate change stressors (or both). Therefore, appeal was allowed and ithe it was ordered that the appellant be granted a resident visa.