Woman stranded in Cook Islands for three years as transit visa applications are repeatedly refused

When Ruchira Ranasingha left Sri Lanka almost a decade ago, she could not have imagined she would end up stranded on a small archipelago in the South Pacific. The 50-year-old has now been stuck in the Cook Islands for three years, and says she is desperate to return home, even offering to travel "handcuffed, bound and gagged". Ranasingha had been hoping to settle in New Zealand. After seeking asylum there, she says she followed the recommendation of an immigration adviser to temporarily exit the country so that a fresh application for a work visa could be lodged from overseas. Once in the Cook Islands, that application was rejected, and by leaving New Zealand she had breached the terms of her existing asylum-linked visa. New Zealand authorities have since indicated they will not grant her future visas. The refusal has left her without a way out. New Zealand will not issue the transit visa she needs to fly home, Australia has refused one as well, and the only other destinations reachable from the Cook Islands, Tahiti and Hawaii, require her to provide biometric information in person in New Zealand before any visa can be processed. "My son, my only child, is getting married in November and I really want to be there for his wedding. My mother is so worried about what has happened to me that she is constantly in and out of hospital," she said, adding that she would do whatever authorities asked of her. Ranasingha left Sri Lanka in 2018 after being forced to close her small T-shirt factory amid a loss of business and mounting loan repayments. She moved to Hong Kong, where she worked as a domestic caregiver for elderly people and children. Her brother told BBC Sinhala she had come under immense financial pressure, and that her husband, who was a drug addict, died about seven years ago. In December 2022, she travelled to New Zealand on a two-month visit visa, staying with a cousin. As it neared expiry, she says an immigration interpreter helped her apply for asylum on the grounds that she was facing threats from lenders in Sri Lanka. She was granted an asylum seeker open work visa, took a restaurant job, and the restaurant agreed to sponsor an employment visa. That application was declined, however, because asylum seekers generally cannot apply for other visas while their cases are being processed. She then contacted Immigration & Secretarial Services, a firm she claims advised that a fresh employment visa application could be made from overseas. Email correspondence seen by the BBC shows the firm's manager, Sylviane Gallant, saying she would initiate the process as soon as Ranasingha had left the country. Gallant later made interventions on her behalf, including writing to Chris Penk, New Zealand's then-immigration minister, but Ranasingha says Gallant eventually admitted the situation was her fault and told her there was nothing more she could do. Gallant did not respond to the BBC's request for comment. When Ranasingha arrived at the airport with an Air New Zealand ticket to Sri Lanka, she was told she could not board without a New Zealand transit visa. Three applications for such a visa were rejected on the grounds authorities were not convinced she would leave New Zealand, and four applications for Australian transit visas were also refused. Tahiti and Hawaii both told her biometric information would need to be provided in New Zealand first, and her latest New Zealand application, which included details of those alternative routes as well as her son's wedding and her mother's health, was also declined. Immigration New Zealand confirmed it had received multiple transit visa applications from Ranasingha, all declined because it was not satisfied she had a genuine intention to transit through the country. Asked why a visa could not be granted even if she were escorted, a representative of the immigration minister's office said such measures do not prevent individuals from making an asylum claim. Australia's interior ministry declined to comment on the individual case, saying non-citizens travelling to Australia must satisfy the requirements of the Migration Act 1958 and the Migration Regulations 1994. Auckland-based immigration law specialist Alastair McClymont said Ranasingha had received "terrible advice" that could not have come from a genuine immigration lawyer, pointing to an industry of so-called immigration consultants who charge applicants without fully understanding the risks. He said New Zealand will likely refuse the transit visa because, having claimed her life was in danger in Sri Lanka, officials doubt her intention to return there, and Australia, France and the United States are likely to reach similar conclusions. "She is going to have to transit through somewhere and no-one will want to take the risk," he said. In the meantime, Ranasingha says locals have treated her kindly. Her hotel has let her stay free of charge in its staff accommodation, residents have provided food and clothing, and one hotel director gave her a sewing machine with which she earns a small income. But she says the stress is affecting her health. Her family has sought help from the Sri Lankan government, and the country's foreign ministry said it was taking all necessary steps to facilitate her return, with officials from the Sri Lankan High Commission in Wellington working closely with New Zealand authorities. Her brother said the family had tried every possible avenue without success, and that her mental state was poor. "One of the times we spoke, she told me that if they were not willing to get her back home alive, they might at least repatriate her body," he said.