Émigré, 101, may have to leave New Zealand

A 101-year-old Briton may be kicked out of New Zealand after immigration bosses rejected his plea to spend his final years living with his son, his only living relative.

	Eric King-Turner, 102, and his wife arrive in New Zealand in three days

Despite savings of £145,000 and a £33,000 a year pension, the widower may have to pack his bags after being told his circumstances "do not make him special." A retired research chemist whose son is a university professor, the man, who has not been named, had pleaded to stay in New Zealand after arriving in 2006.

Details of his case emerged yesterday, just three days before the arrival of 102-year-old Eric King-Turner, from Hampshire, who will be New Zealand's oldest ever immigrant.

Mr King-Turner has been allowed to move with his Kiwi-born wife, Doris, 87, and has spent the last weeks sailing from Southampton to his new home.

But although the unnamed man told the country's Residence Review Board that he, like Mr King-Turner, is hale and hearty, officials have been unmoved by his plight fearing he may be a drain on health resources.

"The centre of gravity of my immediate family is very clearly in New Zealand," wrote the man in a letter reported in a New Zealand newspaper yesterday.

Hard-nosed bureaucrats, however, said if they wanted to stay in touch his son should make the 24,000 mile round trip to visit him in Britain.

"Overall the appellant's age, his financial resources, the fact that the appellant has no family in Great Britain, do not make him special," the board said in a written decision.

"The board appreciates the submission made that the appellant's son is the only living family member the appellant has, but for many years the appellant has lived in Great Britain, apart from his son and alone.

"Presumably his son has visited him in that time and there is no evidence as to why his son could not continue to do this in the future." The decision has drawn fire from New Zealand's opposition spokesman on immigration, Dr Lockwood Smith.

"I don't think we have a very smart policy when it comes to old folk," he said. "To just say no is not good enough.

"I know there are concerns that elderly people become a drain on society but where people are of significant means and they have assets and a pension it ought to be possible." More than 10,000 Britons were granted New Zealand residency permits last year, nearly 25 per cent of all immigrants.