An Indian woman has been granted residency in New Zealand after a tribunal found her case involved exceptional humanitarian circumstances. She had become present in the country illegally after an immigration complication involving her previous sponsorship of two of her husband’s former partners.Aradhana Goswami traveled from India to New Zealand in late 2024 to marry her partner. She faced deportation after it was discovered that her husband’s immigration history prevented them from supporting his application for a partnership-based visa.The IPT allowed Goswami to remain in New Zealand after finding that the circumstances behind his immigration problems were unusual and that it would be inappropriate to deport him.The case focuses on Goswami’s husband, who previously sponsored two former partners for New Zealand residency, once in 2013 and again in 2019. Under New Zealand immigration rules, a person who has already supported two successful partnership-based residence applications cannot sponsor another partner for residence.Despite this, Goswami was granted a visitor visa ahead of his visit to New Zealand on 7 November 2024. In her application, she made it clear that she intended to spend time with her future husband before marriage.According to the New Zealand Herald, she told immigration officials that she wanted to spend time with “the love of her life” before “entering into a lifelong commitment”.The couple got married 19 days after their arrival.According to the tribunal’s decision, Goswami’s husband’s sponsorship history was disclosed to Immigration New Zealand (INZ) during the visitor visa process. The tribunal said authorities approved the application and recorded that there were “no concerns”.But when Goswami applied for a partnership-based work visa, the application was rejected because her husband was not eligible to endorse it under immigration rules. The request for reconsideration was also rejected.She later received an interim visa, but it expired in May 2025, leaving her in New Zealand illegally.In June 2025, Goswami appealed to the IPT on humanitarian grounds, arguing that being forced to leave would separate her from her husband and end their marriage.She told the tribunal that her husband had moved to New Zealand from Fiji as a teenager and had no meaningful ties to India and was unlikely to relocate as he was the primary carer for his elderly parents.Goswami also said that he would face social stigma if he returned to India alone.Their representatives said that the couple did not hide anything and were very transparent with immigration officials throughout the process.“Her intention to marry and build a future with her partner was declared in her visitor visa application,” he submitted.“The Appellant and her husband truthfully declared their true intentions to Immigration New Zealand, and they declared their previous partnerships.”The tribunal accepted that there was no doubt about the authenticity of the marriage. It also considered medical evidence which showed that Goswami was suffering from emotional distress, including poor sleep, loss of appetite, persistent anxiety and dizziness.Addressing her fears about returning to India, the judgment said, “She says that the emotional impact of being seen as a ‘failure’ in the eyes of society and the enormous embarrassment that would come with it would be unbearable.”The IPT concluded that Goswami was not responsible for the condition that made her liable to deportation. It also ruled that allowing him to stay would not be against the public interest.Immigration New Zealand rejected the idea that it had made a mistake. INZ visa director Chris Adamson said visitor visas and subsequent partnership visas were assessed under different rules.“When Ms. Goswami subsequently applied for a partnership-based temporary visa, her partner was assessed under the standard process and could not meet the requirements because he had previously supported more than one successful residence visa application,” Adamson said.He added, “We understand that Ms Goswami’s situation arose through no fault of her own and that she may have expected to continue to reside in New Zealand after being granted an initial visa. However, our position is that both applications were correctly assessed in accordance with the immigration settings at the time.”Despite that situation, the tribunal upheld Goswami’s appeal and granted him a resident visa, ending a months-long immigration battle that had threatened to separate the newlywed couple.