A British woman who wanted to start a new life in New Zealand with her husband was refused entry by New Zealand. Reason given by the Immigration authorities – she was too fat and will be a burden to health care system.
Rowan Trezise, 33 and her husband Richie Trezise, 35 were planning to move from their home, England to New Zealand, but because she was overweight, New Zealand
banned her from entering the country.
When they first tried to gain entry to New Zealand, they were told by the authorities they were both overweight and will be a burden on the health care system.
Mr. Trezise, a submarine cable specialist and former member of the army said his Body Mass Index (BMI) was measured at 42. Any BMI over 25 is considered overweight and unhealthy. So, Mr. Trezise managed to work his body and dropped his waistline to fulfill criteria set out as part of his visa application to work as a technician in the country. When he told this to his doctor, the doctor said this was the most ridiculous thing he has heard in his whole life.
He and his wife had wanted to explore outdoors in New Zealand and be more active.
His wife however had problems unable to shed weight like her husband and is trying to hard to meet the requirements by Christmas. If it doesn’t work they have decided to drop moving to New Zealand. But for now Mr. Trezise is in New Zealand awaiting his wife’s approval.
Robyn Toomath, a spokesman for New Zealand's Fight the Obesity Epidemic and an endocrinologist said they should not be victimized, but however agreed with the restrictions. She said the immigration department cannot afford to import people who are going to be a significant drain on their health resources.
While the New Zealand Immigration Service could not say how many people had been refused entry on similar grounds, the Emigrate New Zealand website revealed that many people had been banned for being obese.
This is an absurd requirement, instead the New Zealand can set health costs a little higher to encourage them to lose weight. BMI is
not the true index to determine overweight, you can ask the weightlifters or athletes, they will have a high BMI value.
BMI is measured by a person's weight divided by his or her height squared, but the weight could be either from muscle mass or body fat. Most of the athletes have high muscle mass and low body fat, Shaquille O’Neal for example used to have 3% body fat, that doesn’t make him obese. It is a shame a developed country like New Zealand, has such a ridiculous rule. I think Rowan and her husband are better off in England.
Do you agree with New Zealand’s immigration policy?
