Widow of Drowned Man Pleads to Stay Back in New Zealand

March 30, 2018

Tanvi Bahvsar and Hemin Limbachiya were married for less than a month when her husband passed away in a drowning accident in New Zealand. The couple was out with a friend at the Waimarama Beach on January 14, just relaxing from a busy ceremonial month.

They were 50 meters from the shoreline when a current started pulling the three of them into the sea. It was impossible for Hemin to get out, so he requested Cameron McCallum, 16-year lifeguard at the beach, to save his wife’s life instead. After she rescued, McCallum called 20 lifeguards who tried to resuscitate him, but they had lost him beyond repair. Even though the couple married ceremoniously in December 2016, they had a civil marriage back in 2016 in Wellington. She brought his body home and hoped to go back to New Zealand and fulfill the dreams of her husband, and she had woven so carefully.

Widow of Drowned Man Pleads to Stay Back in New Zealand

Tanvi is on a 12-month work visa which is dependent on her husband’s work visa. They were almost halfway through the residency process. Tanvi fears that she will be deported from New Zealand because her husband is dead. In a heartfelt letter to Immigration New Zealand, Tanvi wrote that all her dreams of a better life will be shattered if she will be barred from working in New Zealand because of the unfortunate incident. She currently has a retail job at Napier, which doesn’t make her eligible for a work visa. Tanvi is a Media Design School graduate and will apply for the job of animator and painter soon.

Response from Immigration New Zealand

INZ came forward to give their condolences for Tanvi’s loss and didn’t comment on her request’s status. However, the official confirmed that the agency could make discretion in her case. Let’s hope that she has a less difficult life ahead.