The Unemployment Crisis in the 1980s

In January of 1985 they turned up at the New Zealand Embassy to collect their visa only to be informed that somebody in Wellington had stuffed up and there was no visa. They were stranded which was horrific because her parents who had very little to begin with had carefully managed the money to pay for the plane fares but there was little to no money left. Lucy couldn't attend school during that time as they were always poised to leave the country thinking that they would have their visa granted any day now. As an adult looking back and now as a parent herself she said it just played out like your worst nightmare feeling stateless and only being a few rungs up from a refugee.