'Get the minister to look at it' - Immigration lawyer's idea for young widow fighting for mum to be allowed into NZ

An immigration lawyer is suggesting a young Auckland widow raising a family without support take her case to the Immigration Minister for her mother to be allowed into the country.

Seven Sharp reports 27-year-old Aucklander Sonam Sharma would dearly love to have her mother Shakuntla Sharma at her side to help with the baby while she's at work.

Over the last seven years, Sonam Sharma has juggled multiple jobs, the care of her two younger brothers, the birth of her first child, Aryan, and the death of her husband in a motorcycle accident last year.

Sonam said her mother left New Zealand after being denied a visa seven years ago, having been given incorrect advice that she could stay on during the application process.

"We never thought that when we want her to come back again, Immigration was going to say 'oh, you overstayed for eight months'. And that was a shock to us because we were like 'the lawyers told us that we were allowed to stay here'," Sonam said.

She says she paid $22,000 in legal fees to lawyers, but to no avail, and her mother and the family have "suffered over one simple thing for seven years".

"My mum she's very broken. There's many times she'll talk to me and say 'I don't know what to do anymore. I just feel like going to kill myself. There's not point, there's just no point. I'm alive why am I alive?'" 

Ms Sharma said: "I want to ask Immigration to help me remove this label of my mum being an overstayer, because it was not her fault that she became overstayed. Why, why? She has three children that are here." 

Immigration lawyer Simon Laurent has provided a glimmer of hope for the young woman who's trying to do the right thing and support her family despite the hand she's been dealt.

"I think it may be worth considering making a direct approach to the Minister of Immigration. Get the minister to look at it and see if those compassionate issues can actually outweigh the apparent negatives," Mr Laurent said.

Ms Sharma said she hopes that by trying to share her story and trying to contact Immigration, "I hope that I can flip the circumstances around and be happy, so my mum can be happy and at least see her children".