- Published
When Ruchira Ranasingha left Sri Lanka almost a decade ago, she could never have imagined she would end up stranded on a tiny archipelago in the South Pacific.
uncertain
she → publish → Pacific
The 50-year-old has now been stuck in the Cook Islands for three years.
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old → stick → years
She tells the BBC she is desperate to go back to Sri Lanka and has even offered to go "handcuffed, bound and gagged".
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she → tell → Lanka
Ranasingha had been hoping to settle in New Zealand.
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Ranasingha → hop → Zealand
After seeking asylum there, she says she followed an immigration adviser's recommendation to temporarily exit the country to apply for a work visa.
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she → seek → visa
But once in the Cook Islands, her application was rejected.
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application → reject → Islands
And by leaving New Zealand, she had breached the terms of her existing asylum-linked visa.
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she → leave → visa
Now New Zealand is refusing to issue her a transit visa that would allow her to fly home to Sri Lanka.
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her → refuse → Lanka
Australia is refusing too.
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Australia → refuse → ?
The only other international destinations she can fly to from the Cook Islands - Tahiti and Hawaii - require her to give biometric information in New Zealand before any visa can be processed.
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visa → fly → Zealand
As a result, she has no feasible way of leaving.
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she → have → way
"My son - my only child - is getting married in November and I really want to be there for his wedding.
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I → marry → wedding
My mother is so worried about what has happened to me that she is constantly in and out of hospital," she says through tears.
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she → happen → tears
"I will do anything they ask of me - I just want to go home."
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I → do → me
Ranasingha left Sri Lanka in 2018 after being forced to close her small T-shirt factory due to a loss of business.
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Ranasingha → leave → business
Struggling to repay loans, she moved to Hong Kong to work as a domestic caregiver looking after elderly people and children.
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she → struggle → people
Her brother tells BBC Sinhala she had come under immense financial pressure.
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she → tell → pressure
Her husband was a drug addict who died about seven years ago, he adds.
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he → die → ?
In December 2022, Ranasingha headed to New Zealand, where she says she lived with a cousin on a two-month visit visa.
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she → head → visa
As it came close to expiring, she says an immigration interpreter helped her apply for asylum on the grounds she was facing threats from lenders in Sri Lanka.
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she → come → Lanka
She was granted an asylum seeker "open work visa", enabling her to work for almost any employer for a year.
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She → grant → year
She found a job at a restaurant, she says, which ultimately agreed to sponsor an employment visa, which she believed would give her longer-term stability.
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she → find → stability
But as asylum seekers generally cannot apply for other visas while their applications are processed in New Zealand, it was declined.
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it → apply → Zealand
That's when she got in touch with Immigration & Secretarial Services, a firm she claims told her a fresh application for an employment visa could be made from overseas.
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application → get → visa
Email correspondence the BBC has seen shows its manager, Sylviane Gallant, saying she would initiate the process as soon as Ranasingha had left the country.
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Ranasingha → see → country
So she booked a short stay in the Cook Islands while the application was made.
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application → book → Islands
It turned out to be a disastrous decision.
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It → turn → ?
She was again refused the employment visa.
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She → refuse → visa
And by leaving New Zealand, she had violated the terms of her existing visa.
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she → leave → visa
New Zealand authorities made it clear they would not grant her any future visas.
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they → make → visas
Gallant claimed to make various interventions on her behalf, including writing to politicians including Chris Penk, New Zealand's then-immigration minister.
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Gallant → claim → Penk
But ultimately, Ranasingha says Gallant admitted the situation was her fault and told her "there was nothing more she could do".
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she → say → her
"She told me I was better off going home.
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I → tell → me
There was nothing holding me there so I agreed to go.
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I → be → me
"
But when she turned up at the airport with an Air New Zealand ticket to Sri Lanka in hand, she was told she couldn't board the flight without a New Zealand transit visa.
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she → turn → visa
Three applications for a New Zealand transit visa were rejected.
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applications → reject → visa
Authorities said they weren't convinced she would leave New Zealand.
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she → say → Zealand
Four applications for Australian transit visas were rejected too.
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applications → reject → visas
In one of its rejections, New Zealand suggested she explore other routes.
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she → suggest → routes
But both the US state of Hawaii and the French Polynesian island of Tahiti told her she would need to provide biometric information before any visa could be processed - and that could only be done in person in New Zealand.
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that → tell → Zealand
…and 29 more, not listed.
The Aporia
