Sri Lankan woman stranded in Cook Islands for three years after transit visa rejections

Stranded in the Cook Islands

Ruchira Ranasingha, a 50-year-old Sri Lankan national, has been unable to leave the Cook Islands for three years after New Zealand and Australia rejected her applications for transit visas, according to reporting by the BBC. She is seeking to travel to Sri Lanka.

How she became stranded

The BBC reports that Ranasingha left Sri Lanka in 2018 after closing a small T-shirt factory and later worked in Hong Kong. She arrived in New Zealand in December 2022 on a two-month visit visa and said she applied for asylum, citing threats from lenders. New Zealand granted her an asylum seeker "open work visa" valid for one year.

She said a restaurant agreed to sponsor an employment visa, but the application was declined because asylum seekers generally cannot apply for other visas while their asylum claims are being processed.

Ranasingha told the BBC she then contacted Immigration & Secretarial Services, whose manager, Sylviane Gallant, reportedly advised her to leave New Zealand so a fresh employment visa application could be made from overseas. She traveled to the Cook Islands, but the employment visa was refused. Because she had left New Zealand, she said authorities told her she had breached the terms of her existing visa and would not be granted future visas.

Gallant did not respond to the BBC's request for comment, according to the report.

Visa rejections and current situation

New Zealand rejected three transit visa applications, stating it was not satisfied she had a genuine intention to transit through the country, the BBC reported. Australia rejected four transit visa applications and declined to comment on the individual case, citing the Migration Act 1958 and Migration Regulations 1994.

The report says Tahiti and Hawaii require biometric information to be provided in person in New Zealand before visas can be processed, leaving her with no feasible route out of the Cook Islands.

Ranasingha told the BBC she is staying in staff accommodation at a hotel without charge and receiving food and clothing from locals. She said her son is due to marry in November and her mother's health is poor.

Official responses

Immigration New Zealand told the BBC that multiple transit visa applications from Ranasingha were declined because officials were not satisfied she had a genuine intention to transit through New Zealand. When asked about her offer to travel handcuffed and escorted, a representative of the immigration minister's office said those measures do not prevent individuals from making an asylum claim.

Australia's interior ministry said it would not comment on individual cases and that non-citizens travelling to Australia must satisfy the requirements of the Migration Act 1958 and the Migration Regulations 1994.

Sri Lanka's foreign ministry told the BBC it was taking all necessary steps to facilitate her return from the Cook Islands, with officials at the Sri Lankan High Commission in Wellington working with New Zealand authorities and the ministry.

Practical implications and verification

Readers should treat the following as reported claims unless confirmed by official sources:

• Ranasingha's account of advice received from Immigration & Secretarial Services
• Her statement that she paid thousands of New Zealand dollars in fees
• Her assertion that she offered to travel handcuffed and escorted

Confirmed official positions include New Zealand's stated reason for declining transit visas and Australia's citation of its migration legislation. The Sri Lankan foreign ministry has publicly acknowledged it is working on her return.

To verify the original announcement, readers can consult the BBC report and contact Immigration New Zealand, Australia's Department of Home Affairs, or the Sri Lankan Ministry of Foreign Affairs directly. No effective date, fee, processing time, or guarantee of travel can be confirmed from the available source.

Affected nationality: Sri Lankan.

Unknowns include whether any government will issue a travel document or visa allowing her departure, and when or if she will be able to return to Sri Lanka.