A 50-year-old Sri Lankan woman has been stranded in the Cook Islands for three years because no country will grant her the transit visa she needs to fly home — and she has told the BBC she would travel “handcuffed, bound and gagged” if that is what it takes.
Ruchira Ranasingha left Sri Lanka almost a decade ago and had hoped to settle in New Zealand. Her account was carried in Sri Lanka by the Daily Mirror on Sunday, crediting the BBC, which interviewed her.
How she became stuck
After seeking asylum in New Zealand, Ranasingha says she followed an immigration adviser’s recommendation to temporarily leave the country in order to apply for a work visa. She travelled to the Cook Islands, a self-governing Pacific territory in free association with New Zealand.
Her work visa application was rejected. And by leaving New Zealand, she had breached the terms of her existing asylum-linked visa — so she could not return either.
Why there is no way out
The Cook Islands has very few international air routes, and every one of them runs into the same obstacle.
- New Zealand is refusing to issue her a transit visa that would let her change planes on the way to Sri Lanka.
- Australia is refusing as well.
- The only other international destinations reachable from the Cook Islands — Tahiti and Hawaii — require her to give biometric information in New Zealand before any visa can be processed, which she cannot do without first being allowed into New Zealand.
The result is a closed loop: the country she must pass through to leave is the country that will not let her pass through. Multiple transit visa applications have been rejected, with New Zealand authorities saying they are not satisfied she intends to leave after transiting.
What is at stake
Ranasingha’s only child is getting married in Sri Lanka this month, and her mother is in poor health.
Sri Lanka’s Foreign Ministry told the BBC it is “taking all necessary steps” in the case through its High Commission in Wellington.
Not reported
The filing does not say when Ranasingha’s most recent transit visa application was made or refused, how many applications she has lodged in total, or what her immigration status in the Cook Islands currently is. It does not say how she is supporting herself, whether she has legal representation, or what specific steps the High Commission has taken. The grounds of her original asylum claim are not described, and no response from Australian authorities is recorded.
Source note: this account originates with the BBC, which conducted the interview. The Daily Mirror filing is a relay of that reporting, not independent confirmation — the two are one piece of journalism in two places.
